The other side of the portal
by MrRedSnake
Summary: We all know the story, Danny's parents build the ghost portal, he takes a look inside, gets superpowers, and becomes a ghost-themed superhero. But what if he hadn't woken up in his parents' lab after the accident, but instead he was transported to the Ghost Zone? I imagine quite a few things would be different.
1. Going ghost

Danny awoke to the sound of three voices, one male and two female from what he could tell with his eyes closed and his mind dazed, "Is he dead?" the male voice asked

He heard a light smack, "What kind of a stupid question is that? Of course he's dead!" one of the females answered

"Ember, don't hit my boyfriend!" the third voice spoke up, "But yeah Johnny, that was a really stupid question"

Danny felt the presence of someone moving toward him, "Hey dipstick, you awake?"

He opened his eyes to find he was face to face with a beautiful girl with pale skin and blue hair that seemed to be made of fire, she was dressed in black leather and had a guitar on her back, clearly a fan of rock music if her aesthetic was any indication. In his dazed state, the boy said the first thing that came to mind "Are you an angel?"

Her eyes widened and she blushed at his question. "Aww, that is so sweet" the other girl said before turning to her boyfriend "See Johnny? That's how you talk to a lady", the greasy looking biker simply rolled his eyes in response.

As Danny started to wake up a little more he took note of his surroundings, he was laying on a small island that seemed to be floating in a void of green, and his surroundings weren't the only thing that was different, he looked down to see that his clothes had all turned black except for the once red design on his shirt which was now glowing bright green, it looked pretty cool but it was still very strange, however, his attention was taken away from his new wardrobe when he noticed a lock of hair in his peripheral vision, he held it in front of his eyes and examined it in confusion "What?"

The girl with green hair and a red leather jacket pulled out a compact mirror, "I said the same thing when it happened to me" she said with a sad smile as she handed it to the boy

Danny opened the mirror and examined his features, his hair had turned snowy white, his eyes now glowed green, and as subtle as it was he noticed that his skin was slightly more tan, "What the heck happened to me?"

The three teenagers in front of him all gave each other wary looks, Ember was the first to try and speak up "Well, you see…"

"You died and now you're a ghost" Johnny stated bluntly

"JOHNNY!" both girls scolded

"What? He was gonna figure it out anyway"

Danny zoned out as the three teens began arguing, he started to remember everything that happened before he got here, his parents lab, the portal, the green flash, the quarter-second of agony that felt like an eternity, "I'm dead?"

The group stopped their bickering and turned back to the boy, "Listen man, I'm really sorry" Johnny tried to console

"I'm dead" he repeated

"It's really not so bad once you get used to it" Ember said trying to comfort the boy

"I'm dead", he now had tears in his eyes, "Oh my god" he held his face in his hands as he started to cry, "I'm just fourteen, I'm too young to die" he said between sobs

Danny felt a hand rest on his shoulder, he looked over to see it belonged to Ember, "If it makes you feel any better, I was only sixteen when I died"

Johnny was the next one to speak up "I was nineteen, and Kitty was seventeen" he said, gesturing to his girlfriend, "Sometimes life's just a bitch that comes too fast"

Kitty nodded, "We all know what you're going through, we've all been there too"

"You can hang with us if you want" Ember offered, "At least until you're a little more adjusted to the Ghost Zone"

Danny smiled at the girl "Thanks, I'd like that. I'm Danny by the way, Danny Fenton"

"I'm Ember McLain"

"Johnny 13"

"You can just call me Kitty"

After introductions were over, Johnny started laughing to himself "Danny Fenton, kind of sounds like Danny Phantom" he joked

The girls both glared at him before Danny started laughing himself "Danny Phantom, I like it" he looked at the mirror one more time before his hand turned intangible and he dropped it, causing it to crack "Oh crap, sorry Kitty"

She smiled at him "Don't worry about it, we all went through the exact same thing, you'll learn to control it pretty quickly"

"Any other surprises I should worry about?" he asked

"Well, you are floating about a foot off the ground right now" Johnny pointed out

Danny looked down to confirm that he was indeed floating, "Awesome" he said with a large grin before losing his balance and falling on his ass causing the rest of the group to laugh

"Come on" Ember said while offering him a hand "Let's show you around", Danny smiled as he took it before Ember pulled the guitar off her back and placed it on the air, letting it hover before she jumped on, "Try to keep up, Johnny" the rocker said as she sped off with Danny

Johnny and Kitty held back and watched them fly away, "How much you wanna bet they'll be banging by the end of the month?" Johnny asked

"Month? Fifty bucks says they'll be together by next week" Kitty wagered

"You're on" Johnny agreed, sealing the deal with a handshake before pulling his girlfriend into a kiss

The two got on Johnny's bike and caught up with Ember who was showing Danny around the Zone, telling him everything he needed to know, "Over there is Walker's prison" she said gesturing to the island "Stay away from there if you don't want to get locked up for a thousand years because you broke one of his stupid rules", she pointed toward another island in the distance "That's Skulkers island, stay away from him if you don't like being used for target practice"

As she gave him the tour, a cardboard box floated in front of them and burst open to reveal a blue ghost wearing a beanie and overalls "I AM THE BOX GHOST!" he exclaimed

Ember shot him with a blast of energy from her hand causing him to be launched into the distance, "Just try to avoid that guy at all costs"

"Why? Is he dangerous?" Danny questioned

"Nope, he's just really annoying" she answered simply

"Okay, so is there anywhere I can go without being incarcerated, assaulted, or annoyed?" the boy asked

"Yeah, my place and Johnny's place. At least until you've got more control over your powers"

"How long's that gonna take?"

"Well you're off to a pretty good start, considering you've been flying without my help for the past few minutes" she answered with a grin

Only now did Danny notice that Ember was no longer holding his hand, and although he was pretty happy with himself for learning to fly, he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss her touch, the boy was starting to get the sneaking suspicion that he might be developing a crush on the sexy ghost rocker. "So, where to next?"

"My place" Johnny said with a smirk, "We're gonna give you a real Ghost Zone welcome. You ever get wasted?"

"I'm fourteen" Danny answered plainly

Johnny just looked at him with a confused expression "So?"

Kitty rolled her eyes "Not everyone becomes a raging alcoholic at age twelve"

The biker shrugged "Maybe they should. Let's go!" he exclaimed as his motorcycle roared off into the distance

Ember rolled her eyes with a grin, "Come on" she said as she grabbed Danny's hand again and speeding off in the same direction

As soon as the group arrived at Kitty and Johnny's realm, the rebellious motorcyclist pulled out a few beers for everyone, Danny read the label on the can he was handed and laughed at the stupid pun name "Pabst BOO Ribbon?"

"Yeah, the guy that makes it thinks he's hilarious" Kitty said as she opened her can and took a drink

Danny shrugged and did the same, scowling at the taste of the beverage "God, how do you drink this stuff?"

Johnny smirked "You get used to it" he said before taking a drink of his own, "So, how'd you die anyway?"

Danny's eyes widened and the girls both spit out their drinks in shock at the blunt statement, "Jesus Christ! You don't just ask somebody that!" Ember shouted

"Yeah, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Kitty added

"Hey, I'm just curious" the biker defended, "Hell, I'll tell you how I died first if you want"

"Alright" Danny agreed

Johnny took a second to recall the events as best as he could "Okay, so it was 1977, me and Kitty were in our senior year of high school-"

"Wait, I thought you were nineteen when you died" Danny interrupted

Kitty laughed, "It was his third senior year"

"Freaking school didn't know how to teach me" Johnny said with a grimace before resuming the story, "Anyway, there was this weird nerdy kid that had a crush on Kitty and he wanted to ask her to prom, but he couldn't because I would've kicked his ass. Turns out he was a freaking psycho, he built a bomb and set it off in the gym on prom night, killing us both"

Danny realized he'd heard this story before "By any chance did you two go to Casper high?" he asked

"Yeah" Kitty answered, "how'd you know?"

"That's where I go… used to go, there's a memorial in the gym for the victims of the 77 bombing, there were two deaths and six injuries"

"Does it say anything about the asshole that did it?" Johnny asked

Danny shook his head "No, but one of my teachers told me he's spending the rest of his life in prison"

Johnny scowled "What I'd give to have just five minutes alone with that bastard" he shook his head "Whatever. So how about you, how'd you get here?"

Danny thought for a minute about how he'd explain the unbelievable tale, "Well… it's kind of a weird story. My parents are paranormal researchers, ghost hunters, and they build all this crazy technology for hunting and studying ghosts" Danny explained "They'd just finished their newest project, a portal that connects the human world to the Ghost Zone"

"Woah, did it work?" Ember asked

Danny shook his head "No, they were pretty bummed out about it too. Later that night, my friends Tucker and Sam wanted to see it so we went down to the lab to check it out, Sam convinced me to go look inside and see if I could find what was wrong with it… I tripped on a loose cable and accidentally hit the on-switch while I was still inside. There was a flash of green light and I felt like I was getting burned alive. The next thing I remember is waking up to you guys"

As Danny wrapped up his story he noticed that the rest of the group was watching him intently, hanging on to every word he said of the incredible story, "That's gotta be the coolest story ever" Johnny said

"Yeah, it sounds like some kind of superhero origin" Kitty added

The group spent the next few hours talking, hanging out, and having fun, Ember even played a few songs on her guitar, mostly classic rock covers. They decided to end the party once Kitty and Johnny were passed out drunk, "Come on, let's go back to my place" Ember said as she got up from the couch

Danny did the same, stumbling as he did, he was taken by surprise when Ember grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her "Uh, Em-" the boy was interrupted when a swirl of blue fire surrounded them and quickly died down to reveal that their location had changed to what looked like a small apartment with posters of rock bands all over the walls

The rocker smirked at the look of confusion on the boy's face "Teleportation, it's faster than flying but takes up way more energy" she explained

"Cool" Danny said in amazement "Will I be able to do that?"

She smiled at him "Babypop, there's gonna be a lot of cool things you'll be able to do, and I'm gonna show you how"

The boy gave her a smile in return before realizing something she'd said "Babypop?"

"Like it? I just came up with it" Ember said with a smirk, "Anyway since I'm not the kind of girl to share a bed with someone I just met, you can crash on the pullout couch" she said as she grabbed a pillow and a few blankets from the closet

"Thanks Ember, I really appreciate this"

"Don't mention it" she said as she handed him the bedding, "So what do you think of the afterlife so far?"

"I'm just glad I found you guys, I feel like this would way worse if I was dealing with it alone. Still, I am gonna miss being human" as these words left his mouth, two silver rings appeared around his body and separated vertically, changing his appearance as they did, a moment later Danny's clothes were back to their normal light colors, his eyes were once again blue, and his hair had reverted to its natural shade of black

Ember stared at the boy in confusion, taken by complete surprise from what she'd just witnessed "What the hell just happened?!"

Danny looked at himself in a mirror on the wall, just as confused "I- I'm back to normal?"

"What do you mean back to normal?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

"I AM! I mean, I think I am"

The girl walked up to him and grabbed his forearm, finding his pulse, it was slow, "Your pulse is half the speed it should be, but it's there"

"So, what? I'm only half dead?" he asked

"I don't know, try changing back"

"How? I don't think it's just as easy as thinking about it and saying some magic words like 'I'm going ghost'" as Danny said this, the transformation happened again and switched him back to his ghost form, "Or maybe it is"

Ember just continued to look at the boy, not knowing how to deal with the situation at hand, "Dude… that is amazing"

 **A/N: Why am I starting another story when I have three more I still haven't finished? That's so unprofessional!**

 **Anyway, I had this thought "What if when Danny activated the portal he ended up on the other side?", I'd imagine that quite a few things would be different, he'd probably learn to control his powers faster** **with the help of a few new friends, he probably wouldn't become a superhero without Sam's influence, and maybe he'd even become somewhat of a villain over time, who knows.**

 **I feel like this concept has the potential for some really creative stories. What do you guys think? Let me know with a review, and give the story a follow if you want to see more.**


	2. Hell comes to Amity

It had been a bit over a month since Danny first arrived in the Ghost Zone and he was adjusting well with the help of his new friends. He and Ember were currently sitting on her couch, he practiced summoning a ball of energy from his hand as she was focused on writing a song "Ember… remember… return to sender?" she shook her head and crossed the potential lyric from her notepad "Stupid"

While the rocker struggled with lyrics, Danny focused on his hand until it started glowing green his eyes widened as a sphere of ectoplasmic energy formed in his hand, "I DID IT!" he shouted with joy

Ember smiled as she looked over at her new roommate "Nice job babypop, just keep practicing and maybe you won't need us to babysit you out in the Zone anymore"

"I didn't realize you were so eager to get rid of me" the ghost-boy joked as he tossed the energy between his hands

"Hey be careful with that, you might break someth-" before she could finish speaking, the ball of energy flew into the kitchen and broke something with a loud **CRASH,** Ember groaned in frustration "Dammit dipstick, you wrecked my blender!" she said before she raised her eyebrow in thought and started singing to herself " _Ember, you wrecked my blender_ " she shook her head again, "Ugh, stupid"

"I'm really sorry about that" Danny apologized "I'll make it up to you"

The two were interrupted by a knock at the door "You can start by getting that for me" she said with a grin

Danny floated over to the door and answered it, revealing their guests to be none other than Kitty and Johnny, "Hey Phantom, Ember" Johnny said as he let himself in and made his way to the kitchen

"How are you doing with your powers Danny?" Kitty asked

Danny rubbed his neck in embarrassment "Well…"

"Hey Ember, there's a pile of broken glass in here and for once it's not my fault" Johnny said from the kitchen

Kitty laughed, "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon, just keep practicing"

"Outside!" Ember added, Johnny came back into the living room eating a bag of chips "Hey! Does this look like a freaking soup kitchen to you?!" she said as she grabbed the bag from him

"What, I'm hungry!" the biker defended

"You're a ghost, you don't get hungry" she pointed out in frustration, "So, is there a reason you're here or did you just come to steal my food?"

"Actually, there is!" Kitty said excitedly, "I happened to hear a rumor that there's a new portal open leading to the human world"

Ember rolled her eyes "Really, that's the big news? Portals are constantly opening and closing, they never stick around for more than a few minutes and only an idiot would use them"

"Well this portal's been open for over a month" Johnny said with a grin, much to the ghost-rocker's surprise

"We were gonna go check it out, you guys wanna come with?" Kitty asked

Ember thought about it for a moment "Well I could use a break from this song… alright, I'm down"

She then turned to the group's newest member "How about you Danny?"

The boy nodded "Sure, sounds fun"

"Great, let's go!"

The group made their way outside where Kitty and Johnny mounted his motorcycle, taking off toward the portal followed by Danny and Ember, "So how'd you hear about this anyway?" the ghost-rocker asked

"The Lunch Lady told me" Kitty answered

Ember looked at her best friend with disbelief "Seriously? That woman's a nut!"

"Nut or not, I still think it's worth checking out" she countered

After a minute of flying, the group made it to the portal and began inspecting it "It doesn't look natural" Ember pointed out

"Where do you think it came from?" Kitty asked

Johnny smirked as he revved up his bike "One way to find out!", the greasy rebel sped through the portal leaving a trail of smoke in his wake

Ember sighed and shook her head, "Let's go babypop" she said as she floated toward the portal

Danny, on the other hand, was a bit apprehensive of the thought of just going through "I don't know, what if there's something dangerous on the other side?"

"Then we'll have plenty of time to run while it's eating Johnny" the ghost-rocker joked, a smirk appeared on her face "Don't worry, I can hold your hand if you get scared" she teased

Danny considered the offer for a moment before chuckling lightly "Alright, deal"

The two entered the portal and came out the other side a moment later, "What took ya so long?" Johnny asked as he rummaged through a box

"Some of us like to think before we plow through gateways to god knows where." Danny answered

The biker laughed as he pulled something from the box "Yeah? Or maybe you're just a huge pussy" he retorted as he pressed the button on the strange device in his hands, it then opened what looked to be a second smaller ghost portal in the middle of the room, "Oh sweet! I'm keeping this" he said with wide eyes

As Danny looked around the room he was in, he couldn't help but feel like there was something familiar about it, his train of thought was suddenly cut short as a chill ran up his throat and out his mouth, appearing as a visible breath like one would see on a cold day, "Guys, hide!" he said out of pure instinct

They all turned themselves as well as Johnny's bike invisible, glad that they heeded the boy's warning as they heard a pair of voices come down the stairs, "Jack, you're just being paranoid" the female voice said

"I'm telling you Maddie, I know a ghost when I hear it and what I heard down here was a ghost!" the man apparently named Jack insisted

The two arrived at the bottom of the stairs to reveal themselves as a large bear-like man in a bright orange jumpsuit, and a shapely woman in a blue jumpsuit, they inspected the room to find that no one was there, "See Jack? It's just your imagination" Maddie affirmed

Jack sighed "Maybe you're right", he looked sadly toward the ghost portal before turning back upstairs

The four ghosts proceeded to phase through the ceiling and make their way to the streets, they reappeared in an empty alleyway where no one would see them, "Good call Danny, but how'd you know they were coming?" Kitty asked

The ghost-boy, however, seemed a bit distracted by something, "Hey Phantom, you alright?" Johnny asked, breaking the boy from his zoned out state

"Yeah, sorry. I don't know, I just kind of… sensed them" he tried to explain, "Is that like, a ghost power"

"I don't have that" Johnny said

"Me neither" Kitty added

"Looks like it's just you babypop" Ember concluded with a grin

Johnny walked out of the alley and looked at the world around him with a smile before turning back toward the group "God, I didn't realize how much I missed colors that aren't neon green!" he exclaimed

"Yeah, how long's it been since we've even seen a blue sky?" Kitty asked

"Twenty… six years? I don't know, I lost count" Ember admitted

"Well, what do you guys wanna do?" Danny asked

"Let's drop by the high school" Johnny suggested, "I wanna get a picture of us with our memorial plaque"

"Isn't that a little morbid?" Ember asked with her arms crossed and an expression that said "Seriously?"

Kitty shrugged "Come on, how many people get a chance to read their own memorial?"

The ghost-rocker rolled her eyes "Whatever. I'm going to the mall, I want to see kind of new music's come out in the past twenty-six years", she turned toward Danny "You coming babypop?"

"Sure, sounds good" he answered

Ember turned back to Kitty and Johnny "Meet us there when you're done" she instructed before they took off toward the mall

The remaining two proceeded to mount Johnny's motorcycle and sped off toward the school, arriving quickly because of Johnny's complete lack of regard for road safety

"I just don't get how they're not together yet" Kitty stated, "I mean, they've been living together for a month, there's clearly some kind of mutual attraction between them"

"I know, right? She's even got a pet name for him already, and 'babypop' ain't exactly something you call your buddy" the biker added. They phased through the school wall and made their way to the gym to locate the plaque, "Found it!" Johnny exclaimed before reading it off "In loving memory of Johnathon Thurman and Katherine Maxwell, who were tragically killed in the 1977 bombing of the Casper high gymnasium. Sweet!" Johnny pulled an old Polaroid camera from his trench coat, "Shadow!" he exclaimed causing his shadow to come to life out from under him and await its orders

"I always forget you can do that" Kitty admitted

Johnny nodded "It's a pretty cool power when I get the chance to use it", he tossed the camera over to the dark apparition "Alright Shadow, take a good one" he requested as he and Kitty posed in front of the memorial

Shadow snapped the picture and handed the camera back to Johnny, Kitty looked around the gym and saw a flyer on the wall "Aww, they're having a school dance tonight"

"Oh yeah?" Johnny said as he shook the photograph

"Doesn't that bring back any memories for you?"

Johnny rolled his eyes "No offense Kitty, but considering the last dance I went to ended in my untimely demise, I'm not really feeling the nostalgia"

"At least you got to go to all three of your proms" she pointed out "Ember didn't even live to see her first"

"Yeah, but what can ya do about it?" Johnny said as he admired the now developed photograph

Kitty thought for a moment before she came up with an idea.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny and Ember had just arrived at the mall's music store and started looking around, but the ghost-rocker was confused by one little detail "Where the hell are the records?"

"They don't really use those anymore, everything's on CDs now" he explained

"What's that, like an 8-Track?" she asked with a confused look

The boy gave her an equally confused look "I have no idea what that is"

Ember laughed lightly "I knew they wouldn't catch on" she said before turning to the display "So let's see what twenty-three years has done to the music industry", the ghost-rocker began flipping through the albums looking for any bands that caught her eye. She ended up picking out several CDs from various bands and artists such as Nirvana, Guns N Roses, Social Distortion, and Joan Jett to name a few

"Do you even have any money to pay for those?" Danny asked upon seeing the thick stack of music in his friend's hand

Ember smirked at the question and spoke sarcastically " _Oh, you're right, I guess I'll just have to put these back_ ", from her hand came a swirl of blue fire that teleported the CDs back to her lair "Or not!" the ghost-boy's eyes widened at the display of petty theft, "Lighten up babypop, it's not like we're gonna get caught" she assured

"That doesn't really make it any better from a moral standpoint" he argued

The girl waved it off "Oh come on, do you honestly think anyone else would pay for music if it was that easy to steal it?"

Before he could make a retort, Danny's mind wandered to his once best friend Tucker and his mp3 player full of illegally downloaded music, "Point taken" he surrendered

Ember smiled as she had a thought "You know, I still need something to play those with, you wanna learn how to teleport stuff?", Danny's eyes widened in excitement at the opportunity to learn the coolest power he's seen so far, the ghost-rocker giggled at the boy's obvious enthusiasm "I thought you might"

The two walked over to the display of portable CD players where Danny pulled one off the shelf "Okay, what do I do?" he asked eagerly

Ember smiled "First focus on what you want to teleport and where you want it to go, then just will it to go there" she explained

Danny nodded before focusing on the object in his hands, it took a minute before it started to glow green and become engulfed in energy, a moment later it was gone "Oh my god, I did it!" he exclaimed a little too loudly, almost catching the attention of the store clerk who couldn't be bothered to look up from her magazine

Ember smiled proudly at the boy, "You know, a big part of stealing involves not drawing attention to yourself" she teased "But you did good for your first time"

The ghost-boy stumbled a bit, feeling drained by the extreme burst of power he just used, "Wow, that really does take a lot out of you"

"Yeah, but it gets easier, kind of like exercising a muscle" Ember explained, "Come on, let's get you something to eat, it'll build up your strength quicker"

The two were deep in conversation as they made their way to the food court, talking in depth about things like music, movies, the differences between the times they lived in, they were so engrossed in the other that Danny had accidentally bumped into someone, "Oh, sorry about tha-" the boy stopped mid-sentence once he realized that the person in question was none other than his old school bully, Dash Baxter

"Hey, why don't you watch where you're-" the large jock also cut himself off when he noticed something "Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?"

"I uh, I've never seen you before in my life" the boy lied

Dash shook his head "No, you remind me of someone but I can't think of who" he said, Danny's mind was split between worrying about explaining his return from the dead and wondering how stupid someone had to be to not recognize him

Before the jock could press any further, our favorite ghost-rocker decided to chime in, "He already said he doesn't know you dipstick, so buzz off"

The idiot's attention was now away from Danny and immediately given to Ember, and Dash did what any overconfident douchebag would do when confronted by an attractive young lady, flirt "Now how did I not notice you? The name's Dash, I'm the quarterback for the Casper high football team" he said like it was the most impressive thing in the world

She smirked "I'm Ember, and I seriously don't give a shit"

"Aw, don't be that way, how's about you ditch the loser and come sit with me and my friends" he said while gesturing to a table filled with popular snobs

Ember walked in closer to the jock, bringing a grin to his face "You know, you remind me a lot of this guy I knew, he was tall, muscular, handsome, and he thought he was the most important person on the planet", she leaned up and whispered in his ear "And I really fucking hate that guy", there was an audible **CRACK** when the girl's knee was crashed violently into Dash's testicles followed by a high pitched scream that would put any professional opera singer to shame. Danny followed as she left the scene of the crime, "Good news babypop, we've got money for lunch now" she said as she pulled out the wallet she stole from the jock.

Danny and Ember bought a couple burgers and sat down, a few minutes passed before Kitty and Johnny had arrived "May I assume that the kid crying on the floor over there is your handiwork?" Kitty asked, already knowing the answer

Ember smirked "I'd be insulted if you assumed otherwise. So what took you guys so long?"

"I had to make a quick pit-stop" Johnny said as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one up and took a drag, "God, I've missed these"

Seconds later the group was approached by a mall cop who was clearly very serious about his job, "SIR! You are not allowed to smoke in here, you need to put that out"

Johnny gave the fake cop a dirty look "Since when?"

"This mall has been a non-smoking area for four years" he answered in an official tone

The biker put the cigarette out on the table with protest "I thought we were supposed to be fighting the Soviet Union, not become them"

"The Soviet Union hasn't existed in thirteen years, idiot" he said as he walked away

Johnny's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped, "Man, the future's wild"

"So, you guys find the memorial?" Danny asked the couple

"Yeah, check it out" Kitty handed him the photo, Danny and Ember looked at the picture as she continued speaking "Also, I saw this flyer for a school dance that gave me the idea to have our own mini-dance, I figured we could dress up nice, listen to some music, and just act like a group of classy assholes, doesn't that sound fun?"

"I guess" Ember said, "But where are we even gonna have it?"

A moment passed before Danny spoke up "I know a place"

Later that night on the roof of Casper high, our favorite group of post-living hooligans were having their party, right above the unknowing students and faculty in the gym below. Danny and Johnny wore a pair of average suits that they "Borrowed" from an expensive clothing store, the girls, on the other hand, were dressed with a bit more flair, with Kitty in a hot red dress and Ember in a dark black one, it's safe to say that the boys were more than impressed

"Good call on this spot Danny" Kitty said

"Thanks, my friends and I used to hang out here sometimes when we didn't want to deal with bullies, I always figured it'd be a cool place to have a party" he explained

" _Well you were right!_ " Johnny slurred, having been drinking heavily for the last hour

"Johnny, don't you think you've had enough?" his girlfriend asked

" _Ah come on, it'z a party_ " he argued in his inebriated state

Kitty sighed "Whatever", she surrendered to temptation and decided to sit down and join him in getting wasted

Luckily, the music from the gymnasium below them was loud enough for them to hear it clearly and the song playing had just ended, transitioning to the classic song Something by the Beatles, "Oh I love this song" Ember said as she grabbed Danny's hand, "Dance with me babypop!"

The boy grinned widely and happily obliged, the two danced slowly, swaying in rhythm to the smooth vocals of the late great George Harrison. Kitty and Johnny watched the scene happily " _Hey Kitten, do ya think Danny'll make me hiz bezt man?_ " the drunk biker asked

Kitty smirked at him "Oh, so you're already planning their wedding but you haven't even thought about ours?"

" _God, you're_ _s_ _uch a freaking buzzkill_ " he slurred

It seemed as though nothing could ruin this night when Danny felt a familiar chill go up his throat and come out his mouth as a visible blue mist. The door to the roof was suddenly flung open to reveal two teenagers, one a goth girl with black hair and the other a black nerd wearing a red beret, "Nobody move!" the goth chick ordered while brandishing what looked to be a pistol with the word "Fenton" on the side

" _What is this some kind of a bust?!_ " Johnny asked as he stumbled to his feet

"That's exactly what it is, GHOST!" she answered

"What, so being a ghost is a crime now?" Ember asked with her signature rebellious attitude

The nerd was the next to speak "Not necessarily, but it is a crime to trespass on school property and steal over a hundred dollars worth of cigarettes and booze from a convenience store"

Danny, Ember, and Kitty all turned to Johnny with a glare, he scoffed in response " _Oh yeah, look at me, the billionaire that can afford to blow twelve bucks on a pack of smokes_ " he slurred sarcastically

The goth girl spoke again "Every time a ghost comes out of that portal they start trouble, and from what we've heard, you four are no exception"

"Okay, I've heard enough of this crap" Ember said as a ball of blue energy charged up in her hand

The girl aimed her pistol "I wouldn't do that if I were you"

She laughed at the act "Seriously, a gun? What are you gonna do, kill me?"

Danny's eyes widened in realization as he got a closer look at the weapon "Ember, NO!" he jumped in front of the ghost-rocker and pushed her out of the way, screaming in pain as he caught the blast of energy that shot from the gun

"Babypop!"

"Danny!"

"Phantom!", were all shouted simultaneously as the boy collapsed to the ground, bleeding from the shoulder

Ember and Kitty rushed to help him up while Johnny let out a loud whistle, summoning his shadow to bring his motorcycle, "Get him on!" he shouted as he mounted the bike

"Oh no you-" before the goth chick could finish speaking, a blast of green energy shot her hand, knocking the pistol out of her grip. The shooter was none other than Danny, who was trying his best not to pass out from the pain as he was aided onto the back of Johnny's bike

The ghost-biker pulled out the device he found in the lab and pressed the button on it, opening a portal and speeding through with the rest of the group, leaving the two living teenagers alone on the roof. "You okay Sam?" the nerdy one asked

Sam rubbed the area she'd been hit, "I'm fine Tuck, it just stings a little"

"Well, at least you got one good shot in before they got away" he said as he glanced at the small puddle of ectoplasm, upon closer inspection however, he noticed something strange, "Hey Sam, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't ectoplasm supposed to be green?"

"Yeah, it's all green, always" she answered

"Alright, so this is definitely weird" he gestured toward the puddle which was a mix of neon green and crimson red, he pulled out a test-tube and collected a sample of the strange fluid "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are gonna want to see this"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

After arriving back in the Ghost Zone, the group made their way back to Ember's realm as quickly as possible, they patched the boy's wound with an old T-shirt and gave him some of Johnny's stolen booze to help ease the pain, "How ya feeling babypop?" the ghost-rocker asked

"Better" he answered "Thanks"

"So Danny, is there something you wanted to tell us?" Kitty asked with her arms crossed

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, you knew that pistol would've hurt Ember if she was shot, how?" the girl specified

"Kitty, he just took an energy blast" Ember defended

"No, it's fine" Danny said before explaining himself "That pistol was from my parents' lab, it uses ecto-energy to injure ghosts, and the girl holding it was my friend, Sam"

"Oh man, that sucks" Johnny said as elegantly as usual

The boy sighed "Yeah, I've been wondering what they'd think if they knew I was a ghost now, I guess I've got my answer, and I can only imagine how my family, the trigger-happy, ghost hunting Fentons, would react" he sighed once again "I guess I really can't go back"

The group all gave him sympathetic looks before a familiar voice lacking anything resembling tact spoke up "Well you know what, screw 'em" Johnny said, earning a surprised look from Danny and a glare from Kitty and Ember, "Hey, I'm just saying that if they're gonna treat you any different just because you're a ghost, who needs 'em! Besides, you'll always have us"

"I never thought I'd say this, but Johnny's right" Ember admitted

"Yeah, we'll be your new family" Kitty said with a smile

Danny had to admit, that certainly made him feel better, if anything it helped to know that he'd never be truly alone.

 **A/N: I must be getting rusty, I used to be able to write twice as much as this in a quarter of the time, oh well. Anyway, I really appreciate all the reviews I've gotten so far, I've never had a story get this popular so fast.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you thought with a review, and be sure to follow if you want to see more.**


	3. Hunting the hunter

Never let it be said that the Ghost Zone is complete lawless anarchy, there are most certainly rules, it just so happens that more ghosts prefer to break them than enforce them. Enter Walker, the self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner of the Ghost Zone, get caught breaking his rules and suffer his wrath, simple as that, "Well well well" the ghostly sheriff began as he stared down the two hooligans before him, "Johnathon Thurman and Katherine Maxwell, aliases Johnny 13 and Kitty. Oh, I've heard a whole lot about you two"

"All bad I hope" Johnny said with a smirk, not losing one drop of his cocky attitude

Kitty elbowed her boyfriend hard in the ribs, eliciting a pained grunt from him, "Mr. Walker, we are so sorry and we promise that this will never-"

"Stow it sweetheart, you ain't charming your way out of this one", Walker examined the paperwork on his desk, giving an amused chuckle at what he read "Says here you two were brought in for public fornication. Now that's against the rules" he drawled in his deep voice

"Well that's already wrong, we weren't fornicating we were banging!" Johnny defended, Kitty sighed and shook her head before leaning in to whisper into Johnny's ear, "Oh… that's what that means? Okay yeah, we were fornicating"

The authoritarian rubbed his temples in frustration "My god, you are so lucky being stupid ain't against the rules", he took a deep breath and continued with formalities "Anyway, since I'm a fair man and your crime wasn't all that serious, I'm willing to do you a favor and let you off with four, maybe even three with good behavior"

"Four what? Days? Months?" Kitty asked

"Millennia" Walker answered with a smirk

"WHAT?!" They both shouted in unison

"MAN, THAT IS BULLSHIT!" Johnny protested

Walker glared angrily at the boy and stood up at his desk "Alright smartass, you just bumped it up to six!"

"Don't we at least get one phone call?" Kitty asked, bringing the smirk back to the sheriff's face

"Of course you do, everybody does, but it ain't like anyone's ever got someone to call" he explained before pushing the phone on his desk toward her

Now it was Kitty's turn to smirk "Don't worry, I do" she said confidently as she dialed the number.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Being that it was only a little past six AM, Danny and Ember were still asleep on the pullout couch when the phone started ringing, they both groaned in irritation, "Ugh, who the hell's calling?" Danny asked

"I don't know, but this had better be the biggest emergency ever, or somebody's getting killed… twice!" the rocker said as she answered the phone "What?… You what?… What the hell's fornication mean?… Six thousand years?… Ugh fine, we'll come bail you out… Whatever, bye" she hung up the phone and groaned again

"Kitty and Johnny?" Danny asked

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Fornication means sex, I connected the dots" he answered simply as he tightened his hold around the ghost-rocker…

Both teens eyes' shot open as they realized the position they were in "Danny, why are you cuddling me?!"

"Why are you in my bed?!" he retorted

The two quickly separated from one another and shuffled to opposite sides of the mattress, they remembered that they were up late watching a movie the night prior and must've fallen asleep together, "So… Kitty and Johnny?" Ember asked, changing the subject

"Yep" Danny agreed before they quickly bolted out the door

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

After a long and awkwardly silent flight through the Zone, Danny and Ember finally arrived at Walker's prison where they were escorted into his office, once inside they saw Kitty and Johnny handcuffed to their chairs and Walker behind his desk, "Well look at that, you actually showed up. Now that's a first" the sheriff said

Ember turned toward the couple in custody "Seriously? You guys had to get arrested at six in the morning? Why the hell are you even up this early?!"

"Actually, we're up late" Johnny admitted

The rocker groaned before turning to Walker "How much is their bail"

The large ghost leaned back and thought for a moment "I suppose I'd be willing to let 'em go for around… a hundred thousand ecto-creds"

Danny and Ember's eyes widened at the large amount before they started digging through their pockets "Okay, I've got… twenty-seven creds and an old guitar pick" Ember said as she pulled out the items

"I've got… an old pretzel and five bucks I had on me when I died" Danny said as he did the same

Walker looked down at the "loot" with a blank expression, "You serious?" he asked

"Hey, I'm an artist, we don't tend to have a lot of money" Ember defended

"And I'm… just broke" Danny added

"Well then, I guess your friends are just gonna have to do their time" the pale ghost smirked, "Unless you wanna talk about… other forms of payment"

Ember's eyes widened before her expression turned to one of disgust "Listen here you pervert, if you think for a second that I'm gonna-"

"Hold on there, perhaps I could have phrased that better" he interrupted, "I ain't all that interested in having anything of yours wrapped around anything of mine"

"Oh", the ghost-rocker calmed down at this, "Well then, what do you want?"

"It ain't no secret that there's a lot of troublemakers here in the Ghost Zone, even you four have a bit of a reputation" Walker explained, "But I'm not too blind to admit that not all crimes are equal, and there's plenty of ghosts out there that deserve a place in that cell more than you. I'd be more than happy to set a few sexual deviants free if it meant I could get a hold of someone a bit more high-priority, someone like…", the sheriff paused to open his desk drawer and pull out a thick file, slamming it on the table

Ember examined the file, immediately recognizing the name on the front "Skulker?"

"Guilty of multiple counts of poaching, assault, and trespassing. He's accumulated one hell of a price on his head, you bring him in and your friends walk" the sheriff explained

Danny and Ember looked at each other with uncertainty before turning back to Walker, "So, you want us to be bounty hunters?" Danny asked

"Bingo" he answered simply

After a moment of consideration Ember groaned loudly "Ugh, fine" she grabbed the file and stomped toward the door, "Can't believe I missed the best sleep of my afterlife for this crap" she grumbled

"Thanks for this guys, we really owe you one" Kitty said, only to be answered with the ghost-rocker's extended middle finger

After leaving, Danny and Ember flew through the Ghost Zone, eager to finish this mission as quickly as possible, "So what's the plan?" Danny asked

"Get some coffee, find Skulker, kick his ass, turn him in. Any questions?" she answered, showing off that she was clearly not a morning person

"You really think it'll be that easy?"

"Absolutely not, but we can work out the details once we finish step one" she explained, "Come on, I know a place". Danny followed her to a small island with a diner on it, they went in and ordered two cups of coffee, Ember downing hers immediately, "Alright, let's brainstorm" she said

"I say we prepare for when we find him, this guy's supposed to be a really dangerous hunter, right?"

The rocker scoffed "He's just a walking gun, he's only as powerful as that stupid robot suit he uses" she thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion "You know, I think I know someone who can help us"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Ember knocked on one of the many floating doors in the Ghost Zone an awaited an answer, "Fair warning babypop, this guy has kind of a loud, over the top personality"

The door opened a moment later to reveal a tall slender ghost with white hair and green skin, clearly having just been woken "Do you kids have any idea what time it is?" he asked in a mellow tone

"Sorry Technus, but we kind of need your help"

Technus blinked slowly and yawned "Do you kids have any idea what time it is?" he repeated, "What could possibly be so important that you felt the need to wake I, TECHNUS MASTER OF TECHNOL-" his rant was cut off by another yawn

"We just need to ask a few questions, then we'll be out of your hair" Danny explained

The ghost sighed "Fine, but make it quick" he said as he retreated into his realm, gesturing for the two teenagers to follow

"Loud and over the top?" Danny whispered to the girl next to him

"Just wait until he wakes up a little more" she answered as they floated in

"Well, what is it you need to know?" the ghost asked as he started making a pot of coffee

"What do you know about robot suits?" Ember asked

Technus rolled his eyes as if his time was being wasted "Everything, including the fact that they're called mech suits and not robot suits"

"What's the difference?" Danny asked

"WHAT'S THE-" the ghost took a deep breath to calm himself, "A mech is piloted, a robot is not" he said through gritted teeth

"Okay fine, what are a mech suit's weaknesses?" Ember specified

"It depends on the suit" he answered irritably, "Why? Who are you fighting?"

"Skulker" the ghost-rocker answered

Technus' face lit up at the admission, giving a large, and admittedly creepy smile "Well then, it would seem you've come to the right place, I only wish you hadn't shown up before ten"

"So you can help us?" Danny asked

"OF COURSE! Who do you think built that suit of his?" he answered, "He was one annoying customer, always wanting more and more weapons shoved into every conceivable spot, I'll be glad to help you take him down a notch"

"So how do we beat him?" Ember asked

"Well, the suit is impressive from an offensive standpoint but its defenses are lackluster to say the least, it can be easily damaged by a short beatdown from a medium sized gorilla"

"That's… specific" Danny pointed out

"It's just a hypothetical scenario, but breaking it isn't the issue, it's getting close enough without being shot into a puddle of ectoplasm that's gonna be tricky" Technus explained

"We'll figure it out, thanks for your help" Ember said before she and Danny left

"So where to next?" the ghost-boy asked

"It's a surprise" she answered with a smirk

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"Ember, this surprise sucks" Danny said as they floated through the ghost portal and into the Fenton Works laboratory

"Hey, we're hunting down a ghost, this equipment was specially designed to hunt ghosts, we're pretty much doing them a favor by stealing it" the rocker explained

Danny shook his head "No, I get that, it just feels weird being here, it's creepy to be so close to where I died"

She gave him a sympathetic look "Sorry babypop, I didn't think of that"

"It's fine" he assured "Let's see what we can find"

The two rummaged around through the technology, looking for something they could use. While going through one bin, Ember found what looked like a soup thermos "God, do your parents just put their logo on everything?"

Danny thought about it for a moment and shrugged "Yeah, pretty much"

She opened the thermos and inspected it "I mean, I get the idea of diversifying your brand, but it seems like kind of a jump to go from ghost hunting supplies to-" her sentence was interrupted after she pressed a button and was sucked into the device "WHAT THE FUUU-"

"Ember?!" Danny turned around in time to see the thermos fall to the ground

The boy picked up the device and inspected it, hearing his friend's muffled voice from within "Babypop, if I'm not out of here in five seconds then you're gonna find out what it's like to be a FULL GHOST!" she exclaimed

"Don't worry, I'll have you out in a sec" he assured before feeling a familiar chill go up his throat and out his mouth in the form of a blue mist

"Jazz, are you down here?" he heard his mother say from the top of the stairs

"Crap!" he exclaimed in panic before rushing back into the portal. Danny calmed down once he was back to the relative safety of the Ghost Zone, sighing in relief "That was close"

"Your teeth are gonna get pretty close with my boot if I'm not out of here by the count of three!" he heard from within the thermos

"Right, sorry" he said as he unscrewed the cap, releasing the ghost-rocker from her cramped prison, "You okay?"

"Well let's see, I got less than four hours of sleep last night, I'm being sent to hunt down a dangerous criminal to save my stupid best friends, and I was just sucked into a soup canister. So no, I'd say I'm pretty fucking far from okay" she answered with a scowl, "Now here's what's gonna happen, we're gonna find Skulker and make him thank whatever god he believes in for the fact that Walker wants him in one piece, because I AM SO FREAKING DONE WITH THIS DAY, BABYPOP!" Ember was breathing heavily once her tirade was over, her hair flaming up in rage

Before Danny could respond they heard a deep voice address them "Well, you needn't worry too much about finding me, and although I don't believe in any god I'm not too worried about leaving in one piece" the pair turned to see a large robotic figure, armed to the teeth with weapons, "And as for being done with this day, I'll be more than happy to end it for you"

Ember gave a wide smirk as she pulled her guitar from her back and started tuning it up

The Ghost Zone's self-proclaimed greatest hunter gave the girl a confused look, "Do you really think this is the time for rock music, I am about to end your miserable existences"

"It's always a good time to rock, Tinman" she retorted, earning a glare from the hunter "Just give me a minute"

Skulker was growing more frustrated by the minute "This is ridiculous, you go on this big tirade about how badly you're going to hurt me and now you're just tuning a guitar, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Ember rolled her eyes "I'm distracting you, idiot"

"Wait, wha-AHH!" a blast of green energy connected with the back of the hunter's head cutting him off mid-sentence, he turned around to see Danny floating behind him

"Now, I don't know much about hunting, but aren't you supposed to be aware of your surroundings?" the ghost-boy asked with a smirk

Skulker growled in anger, "You've just made a very powerful enemy, you little whelp!"

"Oh, have I?"

"Yes you ha- AHH!" the hunter was once again struck by a blast of energy

"That's two, Robo-dick. I thought you were supposed to be _the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter_ " Ember taunted

The ghost was now seething with anger "THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES!"

"I couldn't agree more" the rocker girl said with a smirk before hitting a chord on her guitar, blasting out a wave of energy that threw Skulker straight into one of the many islands floating around the Ghost Zone

The hunter was dazed for a moment, coming out of it just in time to see one pissed off rocker chick barreling toward him with fury, "Wait, NO!"

Danny could only watch in awe as his friend absolutely demolished the mechanical suit, venting out all of the rage she'd accumulated throughout the morning, parts of the suit were flying everywhere, including the head which the ghost-boy caught before it could fly into his face.

He looked inside to see a little green blob cowering in fear "Your girlfriend is insane" it said in a squeaky voice

"She's not my girlfriend" Danny said as he plucked the small ghost from the robotic head "But yeah, she is definitely not a morning person. So wait, this is what you actually look like?" the ghost nodded in response, "Dude, you're a pipsqueak"

"HEY! I AM THE GHOST ZONE'S GREATEST HUNTER AND YOU WILL TREAT ME WITH THE RESPECT I DESERVE" he screamed in his high-pitched voice

The boy could only laugh in return, "Hey Em, you can stop now, we got him"

The ghost-rocker was still busy smashing the suit to pieces "Five more minutes babypop!" she said, having the time of her life

"That suit cost me five-hundred thousand ecto-creds" the tiny ghost said on the verge of tears

"Well you could always get another one when Walker lets you out of prison… I mean, if he lets you out of prison" Danny said before sucking the ghost into the Fenton Thermos

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Walker sat at his desk, too focused on paperwork to notice the two young ghosts walk in, his attention was caught when a familiar robotic helmet was dropped on his desk, the ghostly sheriff looked up and gave them a wide smirk "I take it things went well"

"Oh yeah, things went well" Danny said as he placed a jar containing the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter on the desk

"LET ME OUT HERE, I REFUSE TO BE CAGED LIKE SOME KIND OF ANIMAL!" the annoying little blob screamed

Ember took the jar and smirked "Well, I guess you could always come home with me, I could use a new stress ball"

He turned to face Walker with a terrified expression "Lock me up forever, throw away the key, just keep that psycho bitch away from me!" he begged

Walker rubbed his chin in sincere consideration, "Hmm, now I'm not so sure"

The blob was on the verge of tears "Please have mercy!"

Walker smirked "Well… alright, I'll go easy on you this one time"

Skulker sighed in relief "Thank you sweet merciful god"

"Well, a deal's a deal" he turned to address the guards at his door "Tell the pervs they're free to go"

"Wait, tell them we decided to leave them here, then wait five minutes to tell them the truth" Ember said with a wide smirk

The guards smirked in return, fully intent on doing as she said, Walker laughed "Nice one, mind if I use it?"

"It's all yours, sheriff" she said with a grin

"Thank you kindly young lady" he said, tipping his hat. "Also" he pulled out two bags of green tokens and tossed them on the desk "Five-hundred ecto-creds each, for your troubles. Drop by again if you're ever looking for work, I've always got plenty of bounties, and who better to bring them in than the Ghost Zone's two greatest hunters" he said with a grin

Skulker's eyes widened in shock "WHAT?! I'M THE GHOST ZONE'S GREATEST HUNTER, THAT'S MY TITLE, I EARNED IT!"

Walker smirked as he picked up the jar and began to vigorously shake it, eliciting screams from the ghost within, "I do hope you two will consider my offer"

"We will, thanks Walker" Danny said

The guards finally returned with Kitty and Johnny, Kitty immediately running to her friends and embracing them in a hug "Thankyouthankyouthankyou"

"Wow, so you guys seriously took down Skulker?" Johnny asked

"Ask him yourself" Danny said, pointing at the jar

The biker examined it, laughing at the tiny creature inside "I always had a feeling he was compensating for something"

"When I get out of here, you will be the first to die" he squeaked

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Almost immediately after entering the realm, Danny and Ember collapsed on the pullout couch, exhausted from their latest adventure, "So, what do you think?" Danny asked

"I think I'm never leaving this bed again" the girl answered

Danny shook his head "No, I mean about Walker's offer"

She turned to face him, "What, being bounty hunters?"

The boy shrugged "Why not? It seems like a pretty sweet deal, it seems to pay good and we'll probably get a little more leniency from Walker"

Ember thought about it "I could use some extra money until my music career kicks off… alright, let's do it babypop"

"Partners?" Danny said, extending his hand

"Yeah, partners" the ghost-rocker took his hand and shook it before pulling his arm around her

"Uh, Em-"

"Shut up, I sleep better this way"

 **A/N: So what do you think of that? Looks like Danny's just meant to hunt ghosts no matter what reality he's in.**

 **I really wanted to do something with Walker, he was always one of my favorite villains on the show, and I thought the whole bounty hunter thing would be a good framing device for future episodes, it gives him a reason to fight ghosts without actually being a hero.**

 **I'm not too sure about this chapter, I feel like it could be better but maybe that's just my perfectionism talking. Let me know what you think with a review, and be sure to follow if you want to see more.**


	4. Goodbye Sam

In the more high-society neighborhood of Amity Park, a teenage girl woke up in a cold sweat, "DANNY!" she screamed. Sam breathed heavily as she took in her surroundings, "It was just a dream" she said to herself, the same dream she'd had every night since she watched her best friend die.

She remembered every detail, the phrase "Take a look inside, you could probably fix it" was especially prominent as one of the last things she said to the boy, and he'd still be alive today had she never said it. The goth teenager cried herself to sleep once again, filled with guilt, sorrow, and regret.

 _Sam took in her new surroundings, she was on the roof of Amity high, ecto-pistol in hand as she glared at the four ghosts before her, a greasy looking biker and his trashy girlfriend, a girl dressed in black leather with flaming blue hair, and an ordinary looking teenage boy that seemed… familiar._

 _Before she knew it she had the pistol aimed at the rocker chick ready to shoot, but the boy jumped in front of her to save her._

 _She heard three screams_

 _"Babypop!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Phantom!"_

 _They repeated in the girl's head_

 _"Babypop!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Phantom!"_

 _And again_

 _"Babypop!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Phantom!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Phantom!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Danny!"_

 _"Danny!"_

"DANNY!" the girl screamed a second time that night as she awoke from yet another dream

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"For the thirty-seventh time, you don't have a bounty on your head, you're too pathetic to have a bounty on your head, SO LEAVE US ALONE!" Ember shouted

"How could this be?! I, THE BOX GHOST, am the most dangerous ghost of them all!" the fat blue ghost exclaimed, "Surely there must be some rule I have broken!"

Ember turned to the ghost-boy next to her "Is bugging the hell out of everyone against the rules?"

Danny pulled out the pocket-sized rulebook that Walker gave him and flipped through it, "It's not" he answered

"You heard him, you're clean so buzz off" the rocker chick commanded

"Well, what if I were to… jaywalk!" the Box Ghost suggested

"Where? There are no streets in the Ghost Zone" Danny pointed out

The irritating ghost finally gave up "Fine, but mark my words, YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF THE BOX GHOST!"

Ember rolled her eyes "Trust me, we know"

"BEWARE!" the ghost exclaimed before flying off into the void

"That guy seriously needs a hobby" Danny said

"Or a girlfriend"

The ghost-boy scoffed "Who in their right mind would go out with the Box Ghost?"

They both thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "The Lunch Lady" they said in unison before laughing

"Come on, let's go get these back to Walker" the ghost-rocker said, holding up the Fenton Thermos

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Walker sat at his desk writing out paperwork as his new pet shouted from the terrarium across the room "THIS GLASS PRISON CAN'T HOLD ME FOREVER, AND ONCE I ESCAPE YOU WILL ALL PAY!"

"Does somebody want another hunt?" the warden asked without looking up from his paperwork

"Yes please" the little green blob answered

Walker pulled a live ghost-cricket from the jar on his desk and walked it over to the other side of the room, dropping it through the one-way ghost shield and into the glass container, "YOUR PELT IS MINE!" the tiny hunter shouted, bringing an amused smile to Walker's face

The ghostly sheriff heard his office door open, signaling the arrival of his two new business associates, "We come bearing gifts" Danny said as he waved the thermos in the air

"How's little Skulky doing?" Ember asked as she approached the display case

"THAT NICKNAME INFURIATES ME AND YOU KNOW IT WENCH, I AM THE BUG ZONE'S GREATEST HUNTER AND I WILL BE TREATED WITH RESPECT!" the little ghost squeaked

"He really brightens up the office" Walker said, "Anyway, good work you two, I'll go get your pay"

"Thank you, sheriff" Ember said before turning to her partner, "So, what do you wanna do with the cash?"

Danny thought about it for a moment "I guess I could use some new clothes or something"

"Boring" Ember said "Come on, let's get it converted and go to the human world, we could probably score some good wee-" she cut herself off mid-sentence and glanced over to Walker

"Sorry, my ears were ringing, I completely missed whatever it was you just said" The warden said with a smirk as he tossed their pay on the desk

"Thanks, sheriff" Ember said as she grabbed the creds from the table

"Anytime" he said, tipping his hat like the southern gentleman he is

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Maddie Fenton sat on the couch with the phone to her ear "I don't know, are you sure it's such a good idea?… I suppose, but-" her conversation was abruptly ended when a teenage goth girl barged in through the door and raced toward the lab, "I'll call you back Vlad, I need to go deal with something… alright, see you soon". Maddie hung up the phone and rushed down to the lab to see her apprentice struggling into a HAZMAT suit, "Sam, what are you doing?"

"No time to explain, I'm going into the Ghost Zone!" the girl said in a panicked tone

"WHAT?! No, you will do no such thing young lady" she scolded

"I have to, DANNY'S IN THERE AND HE'S IN TROUBLE!" Sam insisted

The older ghost hunter gave Sam a shocked look "What?"

"Danny's alive!" she exclaimed "He was the ghost with the red blood, and I'm gonna save him once I get this. STUPID. SUIT. ON!" in her struggle Sam tripped and fell on her ass, "UGH, DAMMIT!"

Maddie walked over and kneeled next to the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder "Sweetie, you can't put on a jumpsuit over a skirt and combat boots" she pointed out, the woman then sighed sadly "I miss him too Sam, more than you could ever know, but he's gone now"

"I SAW HIM, THAT WAS HIS BLOOD" Sam insisted with tears in her eyes "I know it was"

"Sweetie, I examined the blood for hours, it was just ectoplasm, normal ectoplasm with a red pigment, if it really was Danny's then he's a ghost now"

"B-but, he's still Danny"

Maddie shook her head "Ghosts are dangerous Sam, any ghost, even if it is Danny", Sam started to cry profusely into the older woman's shoulder, "It's okay sweetie, let it out" she comforted

"It's all my fault, I told him to go in, I KILLED HIM!" the girl sobbed

"No you didn't, you can't blame yourself for what happened", they stayed like this for a while, Maddie comforting the poor girl as she vented all the emotions she's been repressing for the past couple months

It seemed like hours before they were interrupted by the beeping of the city-wide ghost alert system

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Ember stomped angrily from the suburban home of the local weed dealer, feeling like she was just ripped off, "The future sucks, everything costs a fortune and you still have to by from dipsticks like that"

"Hey, he seemed pretty nice" the ghost-boy defended

"Nice? Nice guys don't charge fifty bucks for this" she complained as she held up the small bag

"SHHH!" Danny said as he hid the illegal substance, "Are you trying to get us arrested?"

"And that's another thing, why the hell isn't it legal yet? It's 2004, you should be able to buy this crap in the grocery store by now!"

Danny looked around for the other half of the group "Where are Kitty and Johnny?" he asked

"Oh I swear to god, if they're out doing what I think they're doing-" Ember was cut off by an explosion in the distance

The two gave each other a confirming look before groaning in unison and flying toward the chaos "We were gone five minutes, FIVE! It's like having kids"

"Oh hell no, our kids had better not be this much trouble"

"Our what now?"

"NOTHING!" the rocker said in a panicked tone

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Sam rode shotgun in the Fenton assault vehicle controlling the net gun as her mentor drove, chasing after two ghosts mounted on a motorcycle, "I'm locked on Mrs. Fenton"

"Sweetie, we've been over this, call me Maddie" the woman said sweetly before switching to a harsher tone "Now net these spooks!"

"Deploying ne-"

"WAIT, CIVILIAN!" the older ghost hunter screamed as she slammed on the breaks

It took a moment for Sam to notice the blue-haired teenage girl in the road, "Wait a minute" she said as she recognized the girl "That's no civilian"

Only a second later she flipped off the two ghost hunters and flew away, laughing as she did. "Oh great, now there's three of them" the woman complained

"I could go after her on the Specter-cycle while you find the other two" Sam suggested

Maddie smiled brightly "Great idea, just be careful, wear a helmet, and take note of how well it runs, it's still untested after all"

Sam grinned "Not for long" she said as she left her seat and made her way to the back of the assault vehicle

Moments later Sam burst out the back doors of the vehicle riding a sleek black motorcycle with the Fenton symbol on the gas tank and sped in the direction of the ghost, Maddie smiled proudly at her apprentice and proceeded to track down the two ghosts she was chasing before

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Ember flew into an alleyway and found herself cornered into a dead-end " _Oh no, whatever will I do, if only I could fly or phase through walls or something_ " she said sarcastically as she was approached by the goth motorcyclist

The girl took off her helmet before speaking "So, you're giving yourself up? I expected a little more fight than that"

The ghost-rocker smirked "Actually, I've got a bone to pick with you" the smirk left her face and turned into a glare "Last time I was out here you shot my babypop, nobody shoots my babypop"

Sam glared in return "I shot my Danny, and I was trying to shoot you"

"Well, here's your chance, I'm wide open" Ember said, the smirk returning to her face "You get one free shot, I suggest you make it count because I can shoot a hell of a lot harder than you"

"Gladly" the goth said with a smirk of her own, pulling the Fenton thermos from her belt and aiming it at the ghost before pressing the button on the side

"Oh crap no, not agaaa-" Ember shouted as she was sucked in

"I think you'll be a lot more useful for research, through some very painful experiments" she said with a grin

"Sorry Sam, but I'm afraid I can't let that happen" she heard a familiar voice say from behind her

"Danny?" she turned around quickly to see the ghostly figure of her former best friend, "Is it really you?"

"Going human" he said softly before returning to the human form she was more accustomed to

With tears in her eyes, Sam ran up to the boy and embraced him in a hug "Oh Danny, you have no idea how much I've missed you, how much we've all missed you, how-" she felt his heart beat slowly through his chest "You're alive?"

"Half alive" he said simply

"So you're… you're not entirely a ghost!" she said excitedly "This is amazing, you're still human! Your parents are gonna be so happy, they-" she stopped talking as she felt him push her away

"Give me the thermos Sam" he said as he held out his hand

"W-what?" she asked, "No"

"Look, I don't want any trouble but I will take it from you" Danny said as he moved in closer

The girl stepped back, hesitantly putting as much distance between them as possible "She's a ghost Danny, ghosts are evil"

"I'm a ghost, remember?"

"Yeah but, you're almost human. Just come home, we can help you" Sam begged as she backed herself into a wall

"I'm only gonna ask one more time"

"NO! Look, Danny, if you're with the ghosts then you're against me, against your family, AGAINST HUMANITY! Don't be stupid, come home, we'll find a way to beat this… together" she said with a smile as she held out her hand

Danny sighed, "I'm sorry you feel that way" he said before two silver rings appeared around his body, changing him back into his ghost form

As quickly as she could, Sam pulled her ecto-pistol from her belt and pointed it at the ghost-boy "Please don't do this", her hand began to shake as he moved in closer, "Please" she begged as he pulled the thermos from her hand, "Please Danny" she begged with tears in her eyes

"Goodbye Sam, I'll miss you" he said before flying away

Sam dropped to her knees and burst into tears, "Yeah, well- WELL I WON'T MISS YOU!" she screamed as she wiped the tears from her eyes, her sadness quickly turning to anger "YOU HEAR ME?! I WON'T MISS A SINGLE SHOT, I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO, THEN I'M GONNA RIP YOU APART MOLECULE BY MOLECULE UNTIL I FIND MY FRIEND! YOU'RE GOING DOWN PHANTOM, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU WISH YOU DIED IN THAT PORTAL!"

Danny never looked back as he listened to her tirade, instead choosing to look down to the streets where he saw a familiar biker and his girlfriend being chased down by the Fenton assault vehicle, he grinned slightly as he flew down beside them, "Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when Johnny 13 ran away from a woman that wants nothing more than to get her hands on him"

Johnny smirked "Yeah, I don't think it'll work out, that chick's insane"

Kitty cleared her throat "Not to mention you have a girlfriend!"

The biker shrugged "Yeah, that too I guess", he swerved to dodge an incoming ecto-blast, "Hey, you wanna continue this conversation in the GZ?"

"Why didn't you just portal yourselves there to begin with?" Danny asked

"No ghost left behind, we were waiting for you and Em" Kitty answered, "Where is she?"

Danny held up the thermos "She's in the can right now"

They could hear screaming from within "VERY FUNNY DIPSTICK, LET'S SEE HOW HARD YOU CAN LAUGH WHEN I RIP OUT YOUR GODDAMN LUNGS!"

"I've been very popular with violent women today" Danny said with a grin, "So let's hurry it up while that's the only organ of mine she wants to damage"

Johnny nodded and pressed the button on his handlebar, opening a portal to the Ghost Zone and driving through followed by Danny

They landed on a floating island in the green void where Danny opened the cap to the thermos, releasing the Ghost-rocker within, she angrily snatched the device from his hand and pointed it at him, pressing the button on the side

"What are you doiii-" the boy shouted as he was sucked inside, "Alright I see what you mean, this totally sucks". Suddenly a seemingly random cardboard box floated by, bringing a smile to the ghost-rocker's face "Oh Boxy" she said in a sweet voice

From the box burst a familiar blue ghost "WHO DARES TO SUMMON THE BOX GHOST FROM HIS CARDBOARD CUBE OF DOOM?!" he shouted with as much exaggeration as ever

Without hesitation Ember sucked him into the thermos as well, "OH GOD NO, ANYTHING BUT THIS!" she heard Danny scream from within

"Oh man, that's just cruel and unusual" Johnny said

"Yeah, let him out of there" Kitty agreed

The rocker chick laughed "Alright, fine", she unscrewed the cap and released the two ghosts

"FOOLS! DID YOU TRULY BELIEVE YOU COULD CAPTURE THE BOX GHOST?!", Ember pointed the thermos at him once again and pressed the button "No wait, I didn't mean it, AHHH-"

The ghost-rocker tossed the container in the air and kicked it as hard as she could into the vast abyss of the Ghost Zone, eliciting a loud scream that faded away into the distance "That takes care of that little annoyance"

"He'll be back" Danny said, "You can never escape the wrath of the Box Ghost"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Sam sat on her bed, staring at an old photograph of her, Tucker, and Danny, the last photo they ever took together on the day of the accident, she sighed sadly as her cell phone began to ring, "Hey Tuck" she said as she answered it

"Wrong" she heard a deep unfamiliar voice on the other end say

"Who is this?" she asked

"I'm hoping I could be a friend" the voice answered

"Do I know you?" she asked, getting more creeped out by the minute

"No, but I know you, and I have a very interesting proposition for you, but only if you choose to accept it"

Every fiber of Sam's being told her to end this conversation, to shut the phone on this creep and move on with her day, but something deep within her, be it morbid curiosity or teenage stupidity, kept her from doing it "What kind of proposition?", she couldn't see it but she just knew this guy was grinning at her answer

"The kind that only a fool would turn down" he answered simply "Now listen closely, the next time you see your mentor she will invite you to an event at my home, accept it, we can discuss more when you arrive. Until then, I bid you farewell"

"Wait, you still haven't told me who you are"

She heard a deep chuckle on the other side that sent a chill up her spine, "Vlad, Vlad Masters. I hope to see you soon my dear"

 **A/N: And now the question remains, what will become of the Box Ghost? Will he return? What vengeance will he bring? Only time will tell.**

 **What, is that not what you were wondering? Okay fine, I had this whole big thing planned about the Box Ghost's descent into madness and his escape from the thermos, but I guess I could scrap that and do something with Sam and Vlad or the Phantom gang.**

 **All jokes aside, I do have some cool ideas for future episodes, I've probably put more thought into this series than any of my original ideas… which kind of bothers me**

 **Anyway, leave a review telling me what you think and be sure to follow so you don't miss anything.**


	5. Clueless teens and new allies

"Wait, you want me to come with you to a class reunion with who?" Sam asked

"Mine and Jack's old college buddy, Vlad Masters" the older ghost hunter answered, confirming that Sam heard her correctly, "I've told him about you and your training, he's very interested in meeting you"

Sam considered the facts, the distance between Amity Park Colorado and Wisconsin was a little over a thousand miles, a good sixteen hour drive in the Fenton family assault vehicle, however, she couldn't exactly dismiss the fact that this Vlad guy had piqued her interest, and this could be her only chance to get some answers, but even then there was still one problem remaining "What about my parents, I don't think they'd be too happy with me going across the country to meet some old ghost hunter" she pointed out

"You just leave them to me" the ghost hunter said with a wink as they walked toward the stairs

Once the two humans were gone, the four ghosts in the lab turned visible and Johnny got back to cutting wires under one of the computers, "Thank god, I thought they'd never leave" the biker said as he sliced a wire, causing it to spark

"Are you sure you know what you're doing" Danny asked

The greasy spirit rolled his eyes "Of course I don't, but how hard can it be to wreck a computer?" as he said this another cord sparked in his face "Shit!"

"So, looks like the town's resident ghost hunters aren't gonna be around for a few days" Ember pointed out, "Could be a good opportunity to cause some trouble"

"Why does everything have to be about causing trouble with you, what's wrong with just hanging out and seeing a movie or something?" Danny asked

The ghost-rocker smirked at him "What's the matter babypop, scared of a little trouble?"

The boy smirked in return "Not when you're the one I'm causing it with"

Johnny pulled his head out from under the computer to face the group "Hey guys fill me in, are you both still totally clueless or have you progressed to hopeless denial?"

"About what?" the two asked in unison

Kitty and Johnny turned to look at each other, "Clueless" they said in unison

Johnny went back under the machine and continued to work for a few more seconds, "And… done, the Fenton Specter Detector just earned itself a one way trip to the Ghost Zone"

"Good, the harder it is for them to find us the better" Kitty said

"So, what should we do now" Danny asked

They all took a moment to think before Ember spoke up "Wanna just hang out and see a movie or something?"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

We join our favorite team of ghost hunters in the Fenton assault vehicle on their way to Wisconsin, Jack sat in the back with his apprentice telling him all about the good old days, "I'm telling you Tucker, you're gonna love Vladdie! He was the best, you couldn't have a better friend than him!"

"You two must be really close" the nerdy teen concluded

"We were! I haven't seen him in years though"

"How come?"

"Well, we didn't exactly leave on the… best of terms" Jack admitted, remembering how he accidentally shot his former best friend in the face with a blast of ectoplasm

Meanwhile at the front of the vehicle, the other half of team Fenton were having a conversation of their own, "So this Vlad guy, what's he like?" Sam asked

"Well he's smart, handsome, he practically wrote the book on paranormal research" Maddie explained

"Sounds like the total package" Sam pointed out

"Yeah, never really was my type though" the woman said as she looked at her husband through the rear-view mirror, "I like a good strong man that can make me laugh"

"Is he… you know, trustworthy?"

Maddie looked at the goth girl with curiosity before deciding to just answer the question "Sweetie, I'd trust that man with the life of my own child, and after… the incident, I wouldn't even say that about my own husband" she said quietly with as much seriousness she could

Sam looked at the older woman with wide eyes of shock, "Okay" was all she could bring herself to say in response

There was a moment of silence before Maddie spoke up again "Well, we're just eight hours away now"

"Yeah, I still can't believe you convinced my parents to let me come with you"

Maddie's face lit up as though she'd just remembered something "Oh, thanks for reminding me sweetie" she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number, a moment passed before someone picked up "Hi Pam it's Maddie, would it be alright with you if I took Sam on a trip to Wisconsin?… No?… Well that's too bad because I already am, sorry"

The teenager beamed with admiration for the woman as she hung up the phone with a grin "Maddie, you're my hero"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Ember breathed heavily despite not needing to, she was uncharacteristically nervous and she was not hiding it well at all, she hadn't even noticed Danny's presence until he'd grabbed her hand "Hey, don't worry, they're gonna love you"

This helped her calm down, if only a little, "But what if they don't?" she asked

He smirked, "Well they'll be even more disappointed if there's no show at all, right?"

The ghost-rocker smiled at the boy "You're right, guess I should go get ready. Thanks babypop"

The Phantom gang decided to make the most of their vacation from Amity Park's resident ghost hunters by making their presence known in a big way. Kitty, Danny, and even Johnny had convinced Ember to put on a rock show in the park, she was apprehensive of the idea and even made the point that they didn't have the necessary equipment, but fortunately, Johnny remembered an old friend from way back in the day that did

"She nervous?" the gray-haired hippy asked in a gravelly voice that sounded like he'd been smoking a pack a day since 1974

"Yeah" Danny answered, "It was really cool of you to let her borrow your equipment, Mac"

The man waved it off like it was nothing "Eh, I wasn't really using it anyway. Besides, it's worth it just to see my three best friends again"

"So you knew Ember, Kitty, and Johnny back when they were alive?"

"Right on, Kitty and Johnny haven't changed a bit, can't say the same about A-… Ember" the old man explained, "You're real lucky you know, she's a great girl"

Danny smiled "Yeah she- wait, what do you mean by that?" he asked in confusion

"Oh god, you're kidding right?" the boy said nothing as he shook his head, Mac laughed as he lit up a cigarette "Good to see teenagers are still as clueless as ever"

The ghost-boy groaned "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"Because you are" the greasy old man said as he took a drag, "I see the way you look at her. Do yourself a favor kid, don't be like me and come to your senses when it's too late, it might not be when you're reading her obituary but it'll be something" he took one last drag before putting out the cigarette "Think about it"

Danny nodded "I will, thanks"

"Groovy" Mac said as he threw up a peace sign and walked off to talk with Johnny

The boy considered what he'd just been told, he'd always had kind of a crush on Ember but he never really gave it much thought. Could he see himself in a relationship with her? His train of thought was derailed a moment later, "Hey Danny" Kitty greeted before getting a better look at his face, the biker chick smirked, "Oh, I know that look, Mac got in your head, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess he did"

The girl laughed "You should've met him years ago, he was even weirder back then"

"Somehow I find that hard to believe"

"Well believe it. Anyway, Ember's about to start up, and I know how much you want a front row seat for this" she said before they walked out to the front of the makeshift stage

The nervous girl from before died the second she was in front of the crowd, on that stage stood the confident Ember that Danny had grown to know so well, "Good morning Amity Park! You might not know my name now, but by the end of this song you're never gonna forget it!"

 **One rock concert later**

Jazz was already relieved that she didn't have to spend two days crammed in the Fenton ghost RV to go to her parents' college reunion, but after seeing this amazing show from this mysterious rocker chick, she couldn't be happier to have stayed home.

The young adult made her way to the back of the stage in an effort to meet the talent, there she saw a cute guy with silver hair waiting for the rocker to come offstage "Excuse me, would it be alright if I-" as the young man turned to face her, Jazz couldn't help but feel like she'd seen him somewhere before, it took a moment for her to realize she was staring "I'm sorry, you just look really familiar, have we met before?"

"Uh, I don't think so" he said nervously

"I swear we have, do you go to Amity high?"

"I… used to" he hesitantly answered

"Oh, so you dropped out?"

"Yeah… that's it"

"Ah, I see. I'm Jazz by the way, Jazz Fenton" she introduced

"I'm Dan- Darnell Ferguson" he corrected, using the first fake name that came to mind

Jazz took note of how strange the boy was acting, she didn't think much of it, 'He's probably just shy' she concluded to herself

Thankfully, the awkward conversation was interrupted by the blue-haired ghost-rocker herself "So what did you think babypop"

The boy smiled at her "You rocked it Em, just like I said you would"

"Aw, you're so sweet" she teased before kissing him on the cheek

"Excuse me, Miss Ember?" the human girl said, catching the ghost's attention "I just wanted to say, you were amazing out there"

Ember smiled in response "Thanks, I really appreciate it"

"Will you be performing again soon?"

"Hmm, let me check" she turned to address the greasy old hippie that was loading the equipment into his van "Hey Mac, mind if we do this again sometime?"

"Anytime you want, I'm almost never busy" the old man answered

"Nice", she turned back to Jazz "Looks like I will"

"Yes, I can't wait. It was nice meeting you Ember, and good seeing you again Darnell"

"You too", Ember waited until the girl was out of earshot before turning to face Danny "Darnell?"

"I'll explain later" he said before changing the subject "Hey Ember, I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie sometime? Like, just you and me"

The rocker girl grinned "Why Mr. Phantom, If I didn't know any better I'd swear you were asking me out on a date"

"I guess you don't know any better then because that's exactly what I'm doing" the ghost-boy stated confidently

Ember was a little taken aback by how straightforward he was being, and she had to admit, there's just something about a man that takes initiative that she found undeniably sexy, "Alright Casanova, tonight at six, I trust you know where I live?" she joked

"I think so, it's the door right next to the linen closet, right?" he joked back

The girl smirked "Try not to be late" she said before walking off to find Kitty and Johnny

Danny smiled proudly to himself before he felt a pat on his back, "Good to see it didn't take too long for you to come to your senses" Mac said

The boy shrugged "I just figured, why put it off, you know?"

"Yeah, I get you" the old man said with a grin, "Anyway, I'm gonna get going in a minute, you four stop by my trailer anytime, my door's always open to friends"

"Thanks again Mac, it was cool meeting you" Danny said as the greasy hippie walked away and waved goodbye

Danny felt another, substantially harder pat on the back from none other than Johnny 13, "Hey Phantom, I heard you finally grew a pair, nice"

"Yeah, it's just kind of weird to think about, going out with Ember"

Johnny gave him a deadpan look "How? You've pretty much been dating since the moment you met"

"What? No we haven't"

The biker rolled his eyes, "The first thing you ever said to her was 'Are you an angel?'"

"I was half unconscious" the boy defended

"She calls you babypop constantly"

"Babypop can be a friendly nickname"

"No it can't. But fine, let's pretend it can, what about last week when me and Kitty walked in on you two cuddling on the couch, was that just you two being really good friends?"

"Ye-…" Danny stopped to think about it, "Wow, I really am clueless"

Johnny smirked before butchering the only historical quote he knew "'He who knows he is clueless knows he is smart' -Stravinsky"

the ghost-boy rolled his eyes "Okay, first off the quote is 'I am wise for I know that I know nothing' and it was said by Socrates" he corrected, shattering Johnny's world

"Wait, so what did Stravinsky say?"

Danny rubbed his temples in frustration "I don't even know who that is"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

It was around 10 PM, the reunion wasn't until tomorrow and Vlad insisted that team Fenton spend the night at his castle, an offer that everyone was quick to accept not wanting to spend another night in the RV, everyone had retired to their rooms for the night except for Sam who'd decided her time would be better spent wandering the halls of the building, searching for answers

"May I help you find something Miss Manson?" she heard a familiar deep voice say from behind her

"No thanks, I think I just found it" she replied as she turned to face the man behind her, "I've got a few questions for you, Mr. Masters"

Vlad smirked "And I'd be obliged to answer them" he said as he walked through the door adjacent to him and gestured for her to follow, closing the door once she did, "So, where shall we begin?" he asked as he made himself comfortable in a chair

Sam did the same before asking the first of several questions she'd prepared beforehand "How did you get my cell number?"

He grinned "I am a very powerful man with very powerful connections, getting phone numbers is child's play"

Semi-satisfied with the answer, the goth teen proceeded to the next question "Okay, let's talk about this proposition of yours"

"Gladly" The man stood up and walked toward the cabinet in the corner of the room, pulling out a bottle of brandy and pouring himself a drink as he spoke, "Now, would you say you've been learning a lot as Maddie's apprentice?"

Sam nodded "Of course, she taught me everything I know"

"Yes well, she is a very smart woman, but her knowledge of ghosts barely even scratches the surface" he explained

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me Miss Manson, what is a ghost?"

"Ghosts are odd manifestations of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness" she recited from memory

Vlad nodded "Correct… but only partially. You see, some ghosts come from dead humans, others are created naturally, and some are even created through procreation"

"Wait, ghosts can have kids?!"

"You see? There are so many things to learn that you never even would have considered, you won't learn them from Maddie and you damn sure won't learn them from Jack. I could teach you, I could teach you everything I know"

"So let me get this straight, you want me to be your apprentice?"

"Not just my apprentice, my partner" he specified, "Now it's up to you, do you join me and unlock all of the Ghost Zone's greatest secrets? Or will you stay in Amity Park, blindly shooting every ghost you see without a second thought?"

Sam considered his offer, she wanted to learn more, to become a better ghost hunter, and even find a way to save Danny. But could she really trust this guy? Not only that but could she really leave her friends and family in Amity Park so she could stay here and train under him? "My parents" she remembered "They don't even like the idea of me hunting ghosts in general, they'll never let me move out here to do it"

Vlad grinned widely "You just leave that to me, I guarantee I'll be able to sway your parents with ease"

The girl thought for a moment more before giving her final answer "Alright, I'll do it"

"Excellent" the man said as he extended his hand to her "I know you won't regret it, Samantha"

She took his hand and shook it "It's Sam, just Sam"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Jazz easily found what she was looking for in her well-organized bookshelf, an old yearbook, she flipped through it quickly but diligently, looking for the boy she saw today, "Where is he? Ferguson should be right here between Foley and-" she looked closely at the picture of her late brother, "Same hairstyle, same features, he's even wearing the same kind of shirt. No, that's impossible… unless"

The girl's eyes went wide as she came to a conclusion, how did she not see it before, she's supposed to be the smart one! But she saw it now, clear as day, "Danny's a ghost!"

 **A/N: Jazz knows, what will she do with this information? I guess we'll find out later**

 **Okay, so I really wasn't feeling it with this chapter, usually when I'm writing I get into this kind of trance where my ideas just flow freely from my head to fingertips and it's great because it lets me bang out a chapter in like a day and a half, but I just couldn't get into that zone with this one. It probably didn't help that I was essentially telling two different stories at once. I don't know, maybe I'm just being a perfectionist. What do you think?**

 **Also, how do you like that OC? I thought it'd be cool to have someone who knew Ember, Kitty, and Johnny before they died. I was hesitant though, because it's kind of hard to put an original character in fanfiction without having it feel forced and unnatural, even here I don't think I pulled it off that well.**

 **So let me know what you think with a review, I'm all ears, and be sure to follow if you haven't already so you don't miss any future chapters.**


	6. First date

Danny and Ember were just exiting the theater, it was opening night for Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman and they decided it was as good a film as any to see on their first real date, "Man that was a weird movie" Danny stated

Ember shrugged "I liked it, I've always loved crazy over the top action movies. But whatever, next time you can pick the movie"

The ghost-boy smirked "So there will be a next time?

She smirked back "I guess we'll have to wait and see"

"But still, not bad for a first date, right?"

The rocker chick smiled at him "I've definitely had worse. So what do you wanna do now?"

Danny thought for a moment "I uh… actually hadn't planned this far ahead, and it is already nine, so…"

" _Oh man, nine? We'd better get home soon so we can get up early to water the crops_ " Ember said sarcastically with a laugh "Come on babypop, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'the dead never sleep'?"

"No" he answered simply

She eyed him curiously "Seriously? It's a pretty common saying in the Ghost Zone"

"I thought the most common saying in the Ghost Zone was 'oh crap, it's Walker's goons, run'"

Ember laughed "Yeah, that one's gotten pretty popular lately too. Anyway, let's go do something, the night's still young and we won't have to worry about your parents trying to double-kill us for another three days"

Danny thought about it for a moment before sighing in defeat "You're lucky I can't say no to you" he said with a smile, "So, any thoughts on what we should do?"

A devious grin appeared on the ghost-rocker's face as she came up with an idea, "Come on" she said as she grabbed the boy's hand and flew off into the night.

Little did the two ghosts know, they were being tracked by a certain red-haired girl with the last name of Fenton, Jazz smiled as she watched the two from an alleyway, "Black clothes, dark makeup, combat boots, you certainly do have a type, little brother"

"Now, let's see where you're off to" she looked down at the prototype handheld ghost tracker and raised an eyebrow at their location, "Dash's house? What could they possibly be doing th-" the girl's eyes widened as she quickly put on her helmet and started up the Specter-cycle, speeding off toward the more high-end neighborhood of Amity Park.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"Seriously, who buys a car for a fourteen-year-old?" Ember asked in a hushed tone as she looked at the clearly over-priced vehicle

"Rich snobs" Danny answered simply

Ember extended her index finger and focused a beam of blue energy from it before pointing it at the car door, "Loser" she said as she lasered the word into the paint with a smirk, she turned to face her date "Your turn"

"Ember, that's vandalism!" he quietly shouted

"Yeah, and?"

"And it's wrong!" he added

She crossed her arms "Isn't this the same guy that bullied you and your friends every day for no reason whatsoever?"

"Well, yeah" the boy admitted, "But two wrongs won't make a right"

"Neither will one, might as well make it even" she reasoned, "Tell you what babypop, if you can think back to every time he made your life a living hell and still tell me he doesn't deserve this, we can leave right now and find something else to do"

Danny considered her offer and thought back to his time with Dash, every locker he was shoved into, every toilet his head was dunked in, and every beatdown he'd received because the jock was in a bad mood, "Asshole" he said as he lasered the word into the car door

"Meathead" Ember said as she did the same

"Shitty quarterback"

"Cocky dipshit"

Danny laughed as he thought back to one instance of a falling towel in the locker room, "Micro-dick"

Ember laughed quietly at the last addition "See? You can't tell me that didn't feel good"

"Okay yeah, that was pretty awesome" he admitted

The ghost-rocker smiled at the boy's change of heart "Should your enemy strike you on the cheek, smash him on the other"

Danny gave her a curious look "Who said that, Stravinsky?"

"LaVey" she corrected

He nodded "So wait, what did Stravinsky say?"

"I don't know, probably something in Russian. Do you even know who Stravinsky is?"

The boy shook his head "Not a clue"

She laughed lightly "Come on, let's grab some food and I'll tell you all about him"

"Sounds good. I know a great place that's open 24/7" he said with a smile

Ember smiled in return "Lead the way"

The two of them flew off into the night once again, moments before their stalker arrived at the scene of the crime. Jazz pulled off her helmet and dismounted the Specter-cycle before seeing the two teenagers' act of vandalism "Oh Danny, you know better than this"

She recognized the vehicle from the last time she was at Dash's house to tutor him, and she knew for a fact it was his because the jock wouldn't shut up about it, probably thinking she'd be impressed. Jazz also remembered how that tutoring session ended with him calling her hot and shamelessly grabbing her ass.

A thought occurred to her as she looked at the car once again, "I mean, it is already marked up" she reasoned to herself as she grabbed the key to the Specter-cycle and positioned it on the car door, "Pervert" she said with a smile as she carved the word into the paint

She stepped back to admire her handiwork before mounting the motorcycle and starting it up before putting on her helmet and speeding off to her next destination, leaving the defaced car with a small feeling of pride.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

The two ghost-teens sat in a booth at Amity Park's most popular fast food joint, the Nasty Burger, where they enjoyed a meal as they talked about various subjects, "So wait, Stravinsky was a composer?" Danny asked

Ember nodded "And a pianist, and a conductor. Haven't you ever seen Fantasia?", the boy shook his head "Seriously? Oh, we are totally watching it one night"

"It's a date" the ghost-boy said with a grin, "Speaking of which…"

The ghost-rocker smiled at him "Babypop, I can honestly say that this is the best date I've ever been on", her smile turned to a smirk "Hell, I might even take you back to my place when it's over"

He laughed "Sounds good to me, I've got nowhere else to go"

"Well, your family is out of town, you could stay at their place if you needed to" Ember pointed out

Danny shook his head "No I couldn't, my sister's still there and I really don't feel like explaining how I mysteriously came back from the dead"

The ghost-boy felt his human-sense go off but didn't think much of it being that they were in a public place, "Hello Danny" a girl's voice said from behind him

"Hey Jazz" he replied out of sheer habit before taking a drink from his soda, a moment passed and his eyes widened in realization of what had just happened

The boy turned to see his sister looking back at him with her arms crossed and an expression on her face that made it clear she wanted answers, "You're looking well for a corpse"

Panicking, Danny struggled to find the words needed for this situation "Uh, Jazz, I can totally explain this" he lied, truth be told he still had no idea how to explain his situation of being kinda ghost and kinda human in a way that made any sense

Luckily he didn't need to, because only a second later he was pulled from his seat and into a tight hug by the red-haired girl prompting him to hug back, "Where have you been? I've missed you so much" she said with tears in her eyes

"It's kind of a long story, I've been living in the Ghost Zone for the past couple months" he explained

The girl sighed, "So I was right, you are a ghost" she leaned into his chest and felt his heartbeat "Then why do you have a-"

"I'm still not sure, I guess I'm still kind of alive but not really, I don't know" he tried to explain as best as he could

"Ghost, human, it doesn't matter, you're still my brother no matter what" she affirmed, bringing a smile to the boy's face, they separated after a minute, happy to be reunited, "I'm sorry, I'm interrupting your date. I'll go"

"Hold on" Ember said, "Kitty just sent me a… text?" she looked at Danny for confirmation, still not familiar with the modern technology, he nodded and she continued "She's at some party with Johnny and wants us to come, wanna check it out?"

"Sounds good to me" Danny said

She turned to the older Fenton sibling "How about you?"

The girl was surprised by the offer, "What, me? No, I really shouldn't, it's getting late and I should really go home"

"Come on Jazz, it'll be fun" the ghost-boy insisted "Besides, it'll give us a chance to hang out for the first time in a while", he hid it well but Danny really did miss his sister and the rest of his friends and family, and even though he'd lost Sam, he was happy to know he still had Jazz.

She considered the offer, getting to spend time with her brother after so long, what could she say, that convinced her, "Alright, I'll go"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Kitty and Johnny sat in the backyard of a suburban home awaiting the arrival of their friends. Well, they were waiting until after about five minutes had passed and they got bored, then they started making out, "Didn't you two learn anything from your time in the pen?" they heard Ember say from behind them, causing them to separate.

"Hey, we weren't doing anything" Kitty pointed out

"Johnny, your fly's down" Danny said with a smirk

The biker zipped his pants before addressing the two, "Maybe if you didn't take so much damn time getting here-" only now did he notice the redhead accompanying them, "Who's the babe?" he asked, earning himself a smack from his girlfriend "Ow! What the hell Kitty?!"

"I'm Jazz" she introduced, "Danny's sister"

"Oh crap, are you completely insane like the rest of your family?" Johnny asked, earning yet another smack from his girlfriend

"Do you ever think before you speak?!" Kitty asked

The biker shook his head "I try not to make a habit of it"

The ghost-chick shook her head in disapproval before addressing the human girl "I mean, while we're on the subject…"

Jazz laughed and shook her head "No, I'm with you, my parents are nuts. Sorry if they give you any trouble"

" _Nah, I love getting shot at, it's my biggest kink_ " Johnny said sarcastically before flinching in fear of getting smacked again, "I'm Johnny, by the way, Johnny 13"

"I'm Kitty, nice to meet you" she introduced

"Well now that introductions are over, wanna get back to the party?" Ember asked to which everybody agreed.

The party was wild, it had loud music, drunk teenagers, some guy shouting at the bathroom door about some chick eating a whole bag of mushrooms, and the girl in question who was crying and talking to a plant. You know, a normal high school house-party

Needless to say, Jazz was far out of her element, that's fine, just as long as she doesn't get separated from Danny and his frie- and they're gone, disappeared to somewhere in the crowded house, "Where could they be?" she asked herself as she searched for them before accidentally bumping into someone

"Hey watch where you're-" the guy turned around and cut himself mid-sentence, his look of anger turning into a smirk, this asshole was none other than everybody's least favorite douche-bag, Dash Baxter, "Well hello Jazz, I definitely wasn't expecting to see you here"

"Uh yeah, I'm kind of here with someone" she explained

"Oh yeah, then where is he?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out"

The jock's smirk widened "Well then, why don't you just forget about him and spend some time with me?"

Jazz rolled her eyes at the boy's advances "Thanks for the offer, but I'd really rather not"

As the girl turned to walk away, she felt Dash grab her by the wrist "Aw come on baby, don't be that way, you know you want me", she slapped the boy in his face with her free hand "Ooh, I like it rough"

"Well then you're just gonna fucking adore me" he heard a voice say from behind him, the jock turned around to see a blonde-haired biker dude for no longer than a split second before he was punched in the face

"OW, SHIT!" Dash exclaimed in pain before looking back at his assailant, "You're fucking dead"

Johnny scoffed "Yeah, I've noticed", he punched the boy once again before dragging him toward the front door and tossing him out onto the concrete porch, "You like football, right?" he asked before kicking the jock in the balls as hard as he could with an audible crack

Dash let out a high-pitched scream, "Oh god, not again!"

Johnny turned back to face Jazz, "You alright?"

She nodded "Yeah, thanks for that"

"No problem, that guy was a dick", he waved for her to follow "Come on, let's go meet up with the others"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny, Ember, and Kitty were hanging out in one of the less crowded rooms, the only other people in there were five guys that were huddled around a ouija board, "Spirits, we mean you no harm, please speak to us" one of the guys said dramatically

Ember rolled her eyes "Hey, shut up"

"Screw you, we're trying to talk to ghosts"

"The ghosts want you to shut up!"

"I'll shut up when the ghosts tell me to!"

Having lost all her patience, the ghost-rocker turned intangible and overshadowed the obnoxious guy, spelling out "SHUT UP!" on the ouija and breaking it over his head before leaving his body and rejoining her friends.

The group of humans ran out of the room screaming before Johnny and Jazz showed up, "You guys started having fun without me?" the biker asked in a disappointed tone

Ember shrugged "You took too long to get here"

"Sorry, I was busy beating the crap out of some loser" he said

"Well, now that we're all here…" Kitty began as she pulled a joint, "Wanna start having some real fun?"

Ember scoffed "Depends, is that the same overpriced crap we got last week?"

The ghost-chick shook her head "Nope, Mac gave it to us today, he grows it himself" she explained before lighting it, taking a hit, and passing it to Johnny

Jazz could only give a shocked look, "Is that what I think it is? You guys know marijuana's illegal, right? We could get into serious trouble"

Ember waved it off, "Relax, me and Danny are cops… sort of" she said as Johnny passed her the joint

The ghost-boy shrugged "Cops, hired mercenaries, same thing", Ember passed the weed to him

"You're not really going to smoke that, are you?" Jazz asked

The boy looked at the cigarette in his hand and then back to his sister "I mean, I was planning to"

"Danny, you know better than that"

He grinned before taking a hit, going into a coughing fit once he did, "Sorry Jazz" he coughed out "I couldn't resist"

The redhead crossed her arms and gave a disappointed look, "I'm starting to think your new friends might not be very good influences on you"

"Well all my old friends want to rip me apart molecule by molecule, call me crazy but I think this might be a little safer" Danny explained before passing the joint back to Kitty

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny and Ember decided to teleport home once they had enjoyed their fill of weed and alcohol, "So, best date of all time?" Danny asked with a smile

The rocker smiled in return, "Let me tell ya babypop, it's gonna be hard to top"

The two were silent for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes. Maybe it was the booze and pot, but something in Danny's mind was screaming at him to do what he did next, he slowly leaned in to Ember as she did the same, meeting in the middle with a kiss, a long kiss that turned into a full-blown makeout session on the pullout couch, and then… well, I can't really say, this story is rated T after all.

 **A/N: So yeah, Danny and Ember are now officially together, and maybe there's something going on with Jazz and Johnny, we'll see.**

 **Sorry this one took so long, I've been trying to work on my original ideas more, such as the pilot for my own cartoon, two different screenplay's, and various other crap, Not to mention I've been stressing out a lot lately about life and shit.**

 **Maybe it's because I've put a lot of work into this story but I just feel like the chapters are degrading, I don't know, maybe I'm worried about nothing, what do you think?**

 **Be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts, theories, and ideas, and be sure to follow if you haven't so you don't miss out on the next episode.**


	7. Unforgiven

From the very beginning, Sam's parents were firmly against the idea of her working with the Fentons, the phrase "I want to be a ghost hunter" might as well have been the same as coming out as gay in a strictly Catholic household.

So imagine their reaction when they'd received a visit from Vlad Masters saying that he wanted her to move out to Wisconsin and train as his apprentice. Needless to say, they weren't thrilled with the idea.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" was the first thing Mrs. Pamela Manson shouted at the man when he brought up the subject

"Madame, I strongly suggest that you reconsider, Samantha shows a great deal of potential in the field of paranormal research" he explained

"I don't care, it's bad enough she's been studying your nutjob science with those Fenton people after school, now you want to take her away to do it full time?! I don't think so!"

Despite being yelled at, Vlad kept a cool and confident composure as he spoke "Mrs. Manson, I can assure you that the Fentons are not nutjobs…" he thought for a moment before correcting himself "I can assure you that Maddie Fenton is not a nutjob. Our field of research is just as viable as, say theoretical physics or microbiology"

The woman simply scoffed in response

"Oh come now madame, with all the reports I've seen about sightings right here in Amity, it would be foolish to deny the existence of ghosts"

She scoffed again "I'm sure all of those reports have perfectly logical explanations that don't involve ghosts"

"Oh really?" he pulled a file from his coat, "Then let's have a look" Vlad cleared his throat before reading off the first report "April third 2004, an unidentified woman with a green skin pigment is seen wandering the Amity high cafeteria before attacking a young girl for having the lunch menu changed to fit her vegetarian diet"

"I know all about it, the girl was my daughter and she was attacked by some deranged woman. That was around the time this whole ghost hunting phase of hers started" Pam recalled

Vlad nodded "Very well, let's move on. April ninth 2004, two unidentified teenagers were seen in the Amity high gymnasium taking a picture in front of a memorial plaque for the 1977 Amity high bombing"

"What's so strange about that?"

The man pulled out an old photograph "These are the two teenagers who were killed in the bombing", he then pulled out a piece of paper "This is a police sketch of the two trespassers"

The woman examined them closely, they were almost identical down to the last detail, even wearing the same outfits, the woman couldn't deny the resemblance but she was still too stubborn to admit it "This doesn't prove anything, it's just two kids with a morbid sense of humor"

Vlad was growing impatient "Alright, then explain this. April twenty-third 2004, downtown Amity was attacked by four ghosts, there are eye-witness accounts of flying teenagers shooting beams of energy from their hands, and even one girl claiming to have spoken to her dead best friend before he flew off into the sky. Tell me Mrs. Manson, how would you explain that?! Some kind of overblown theater show put on by the greatest illusionists of all time?!"

"ALRIGHT! Fine, maybe ghosts do exist. But this all still sounds extremely dangerous, I just don't want Sam to get hurt"

Vlad calmed down at the woman's admission, "And she won't be, not with me. You see, prior experience has taught me to take all necessary precautions in keeping my work as safe as possible, and I can assure you that your daughter will not suffer any harm on my watch"

He made a lot of good arguments, but the woman still wasn't convinced "I don't know, we can't just take her out of school so she can study ghosts 24/7"

Vlad grinned "Madame, you want only the best for your daughter, correct?"

"Of course"

"Well, think of it this way, paranormal research is still a very young field, your daughter will be one of the pioneers of an entirely new branch of science, she'll gain fame, notoriety, Nobel prizes. As for her education, I am a very wealthy man, I can employ the finest instructors money can buy and provide her an education that she'd never get at any public school or college. Tell me, how does 'Dr. Samantha Manson' sound to you?"

As Vlad went on, the woman was growing more and more fond of the idea "That does sound pretty good"

Vlad grinned widely "So then, do we have an agreement?"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"So you're really going through with this?" Tucker asked as Sam tossed her suitcase on her bed

"Yep" she answered as she began to pack

"You're just leaving, going all the way to Wisconsin to live with this guy you just met?"

"Pretty much"

"You're nuts"

The girl stopped packing so she could confront her friend "Oh really? I'm having the opportunity of a lifetime handed to me on a silver platter and I'm crazy for taking it? You do realize this is probably the only way for me to save Danny, right?"

And with that, the boy finally figured it out, "Oh, I get it"

"Get what?"

"You're only doing this to get Danny back, aren't you?"

"That's a big part of it, yeah"

Tucker gave her a sympathetic look "Sam, you can't save him, you told me yourself that he's too far gone"

The goth shook her head "No, he's in there somewhere, I just know he is"

"Look, I know it's hard, I mean, the dude was like a brother to me, but you need to let him go. Maybe things could have been different, maybe in some other universe he came out on our side of the portal and fought with us against the ghosts, but that's just not how it turned out. He's one of them now"

Sam shed a tear at the thought but quickly shook it away "You might be right, but I've still gotta try, and even if I fail, I've still got a lot to learn from Vlad"

"So you've really got your heart set on this", the girl nodded in response "Well… I'm gonna miss you" the two leaned in for a hug

"Don't worry, I won't be gone forever, I'm still gonna come home for holidays and junk. Plus, Vlad's got his own private jet, so I can fly out to visit anytime I want" she affirmed

Tucker smiled "Yeah, but it still won't be the same"

The two separated from the hug when they heard a knock at the door, "Come in" the goth invited

The door opened to reveal the tall dark form of her new mentor alongside those of her parents, her mother was the first to address her "Well Sam, your father and I have decided to let you go work with Mr. Masters"

The girl was genuinely impressed, never before had she seen anyone convince her parents of anything so quickly, but her surprise was overshadowed by the excitement she felt over the news she'd just heard.

Sam was going to Wisconsin, making her the first person in the state's history to actually be excited about living there.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Vlad's limo pulled up in front of the Fenton Works building upon Sam's request, she needed to say goodbye to just one more person before they left for the airport, from the building emerged a large bear-like man in an orange jumpsuit, eager to greet his guests as they approached "Vladdie! It's good to see you, my man. Sammie, I promise you won't regret this, you're gonna learn more from this man than you could ever dream of learning here!"

Sam smiled at the man's jovial attitude "Hey Jack, is Maddie home?"

"Downstairs in the lab, and don't worry, I'll keep Vladdie company while you two say your goodbyes!"

" _Oh joy_ " Vlad said sarcastically as he and his new apprentice entered the building

The goth made her way down to the basement where she found Maddie using a blowtorch on something out of her line of sight, "What are you working on?" Sam asked

The woman held up a bowl of soup "My lunch, microwave's broken", she put the bowl aside and turned her full attention to her former apprentice "So, you're really leaving?"

The girl nodded "Yeah, don't get me wrong, you're amazing and you've taught me so much since-"

Maddie put her hand up, signaling for the girl to stop "You don't need to explain yourself to me sweetie, I completely understand"

"You do?"

"Of course. Sam, I've known Vlad for years, he's a smart man and this is a great opportunity for you, you'd be crazy not to take it", the woman sighed "I am gonna miss you though, you've been like the daughter I never had"

Sam gave her a curious look "What about Jazz?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about her" she said with a laugh, "You get what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, I do" she answered with a smile before Maddie pulled her into a hug

"As far as I'm concerned, you're an honorary Fenton, which means I expect you to call us as soon as you get to Wisconsin"

"Don't worry, I will" she assured, "Honestly, I'll probably end up calling you more than I will my own parents"

"Good girl" Maddie said with a smile

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

As Sam and Maddie said their goodbyes, Jack and Vlad waited in the living room, "So… would you like to sit down?" Jack asked

"I'm perfectly comfortable standing, thank you" Vlad answered as he examined the various pictures on the wall, they mostly consisted of pictures of Danny and Jazz with a few of the entire family

Jack tried desperately to clear the awkward silence "We uh, we didn't get to talk much at the reunion, it almost felt like you were avoiding me" he said with a nervous laugh

"Did it? I hadn't noticed" the man said simply as he looked at a picture of Danny

Jack sighed "Correct me if I'm wrong Vladdie, but I feel like I'm sensing a little tension"

"Hm, that's interesting, I was under the influence that your perception began and ended with whether or not there was any fudge nearby"

"I take it you're still mad about…"

"You ruining my life, yes" Vlad finished

"Look, I know I screwed up and I'm sorry"

"I understand that and I don't forgive you"

"I don't know what you want me to say V-man"

Vlad quickly turned around to face the large man with a glare "There's nothing you can say! You just don't get it, do you? You can't just go around ruining lives and causing years of mental anguish and expect everyone to just be okay with it! _Oh, but why shouldn't they, it's just goofy old Jack and his lovable stupidity_ , _and he said he was sorry._ Hey, I've got an idea, why don't you try apologizing to young Daniel, maybe that will bring him back to LIFE!"

Jack could only bring himself to look at his old friend with an expression of shock and sadness

"I could've forgiven you, it would've taken years but I could've done it. But when I picked up the phone that day to hear Maddie crying over her dead son, because you thought the inside of the ghost portal was the perfect place to put the on-switch... I don't believe I'd ever hated you more before that day. It was your stupidity that ruined my life and your stupidity that ended your own son's, and for that, I will never forgive you!"

Vlad took a deep breath and composed himself once his tirade had ended, "Tell, Samantha I'll be waiting in the limo, I'm getting sick just breathing the same air as you"

Jack could only stand there in shock for a few minutes before Sam and Maddie came up from the basement, Maddie looked around before addressing her husband "Where's Vlad? I wanted to see him before he left"

"He uh, he's outside, said he needed to get some air" the man answered

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Sam and Vlad arrived at his castle that night, the goth girl settled in well to her new room which was impressive even in comparison to her old one.

The two sat alone at the large dinner table as one of the servants presented their respective meals, "Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you, I'm a vegetarian" the girl said to her host

Vlad simply grinned in response "Then you're in luck my dear, I am as well"

Sam examined the food more closely to realize that it was indeed free of any meat, she smiled at the realization and began to eat.

 **A/N: Here's a nice Sam and Vlad chapter for you, sorry there weren't as many jokes as usual but I wanted this one to be a little more dramatic. Don't worry, there won't be any romance between these two… I mean, I hope not, oh god this had better not turn into another one of my weird ships.**

 **Also, shout out to the dude that caught my Eminem reference in the last chapter, I honestly was not expecting anyone to get that one, I forgot your name but you know who you are.**

 **Anyway, be sure to let me know what you think with a review, and make sure you follow if you haven't already so you don't miss any ghostly goodness.**


	8. Pirate Radio (Alternate Take)

"Well, what do you think?" Vlad asked his apprentice with a proud grin as he showed her the blueprints for his latest project

Sam looked over the design with an intrigued look, "I've gotta admit, this is pretty incredible" she said before her expression turned thoughtful, "I'm not crazy about the color though"

Vlad gave a look of disbelief at the girl's admission, "Not crazy about the- what's wrong with the color?!" he demanded

The teenager shrugged "I've never been much of 'bright colors' type of girl"

Her mentor groaned in frustration "It's red, the color of blood, death, and fear! The idea is to strike terror into the hearts of your enemies"

"And make me as visible to them as humanly possible. Seriously, I'd be a human target in this thing" she pointed out

Seeing her logic, Vlad sighed in defeat, "Very well Samantha, what do you suggest?"

Sam held back her irritation at being called by her formal name, Vlad had made it clear that that's what he would call her and that wouldn't change anytime soon, she'd just have to get used to it, "Well, I'm thinking we go with something a little more… ominous. What do you think of black?"

The man thought about it before giving a satisfied nod, "Black, of course! I'm surprised I hadn't thought of it myself, what an excellent choice my dear" he praised, prompting the girl to give a proud smile. "Now, I'd say it's time we get started, don't you think?"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny and Ember sat on one of the many islands floating in the Ghost Zone, waiting for their latest bounty to make itself known, Ember took the time to practice her guitar while Danny just sat on a rock, bored out of his mind staring at the design on his left hand, "How's your new ink feeling, babypop?" the ghost-rocker asked

The ghost-boy shrugged, "Not bad, still stings a little" he answered, "I still can't believe you actually talked me into letting Johnny give me a tattoo", the design was simple, a green capital D with a P inside, Johnny drew it up, it looks like something you'd see on the chest of a superhero suit or something, the ghost-boy found it cool nonetheless.

"It'll heal quick. Besides, it looks sexy on you, just like I said it would" Ember said with a wink

Danny smiled at his girlfriend, that was something he'd never get tired of saying, his girlfriend, his best friend, and his partner in crime whether they were committing or stopping it.

"So what's this guy look like anyway?" she asked

"We don't know, there's just some unidentified ghost who's been causing trouble in this area. Weren't you listening back at Walker's?"

Ember laughed "No, I always tune him out around the time he goes into his monologue about how ' _the rules are sacred and are to be upheld at all costs'_ " she mimicked in a bad impression of the sheriff, "Man, that guy just loves the sound of his own voice. Granted, it is a pretty nice voice"

"Nicer than mine?" Danny asked with a smirk

The girl smirked in return "Let me put it this way babypop, I'd much rather hear you screaming my name when I-"

"Ember!" he scolded

She gave another smirk as her hair flared up slightly "Yep, just like that. You always know just how to get me fired up"

Danny grinned as he moved in closer to his girlfriend "You know I love it when you get all fired up" he leaned in for a kiss which she gladly returned, the simple act quickly evolving into a full makeout session

The pair's act of lust was interrupted by a loud explosion nearby, Ember pulled back from the kiss with a look of irritation "Ugh, are you kidding me?!"

"Oh I know that look, part of me almost feels bad for this guy"

"Not as bad as he's gonna feel!" the ghost-rocker said as she readied herself for the beatdown she was about to give

The two hunters followed the sounds of destruction to find what looked to be a glowing green pirate ship floating in the void, the sight was unexpected, but not surprising, this is the Ghost Zone after all.

On the ship stood its captain, the ghost of a young boy fully decked out in a pirate costume, complete with a skeletal parrot on his shoulder who did not seem anywhere close to being amused "You know _captain,_ most pirates throughout history tended to have some sort of goal in mind, usually to pillage and plunder in search of riches, but all we seem to be doing is shooting random islands with cannons" the bird pointed out

"Do ye dare question the methods of Captain Youngblood?" the boy asked dramatically

The parrot shook his head, "Methods, no. Sanity on the other hand-"

"QUIET, BIRD! Or do ye wish to walk the plank?" Youngblood challenged

" _Oh no, not the plank, how ever will I survive?_ " he asked sarcastically as he began to fly around the boy's head

As the young captain fumed in anger, two intruders boarded the ship without him knowing, "Don't you need to be at least seventeen to drive a boat without adult supervision?" Danny asked, gaining the boy's attention

The young ghost drew his sword as he addressed the two intruders "Who be ye, and what be ya doing on me ship?!"

Ember rolled her eyes "Okay, could you talk like a normal person before I get really irritated?"

The boy shook his head "Nae, this be the way a pirate talks, wench!"

The ghost-rocker gave a look of pure anger at the boy's comment "What the hell did you just call me you little sh-"

The girl was cut off mid-sentence by Danny's hand clamping over her mouth "Ember, can we talk for a second?", he felt her growl into his palm and instinctively pulled away

"What is it, babypop?" she asked, still visibly pissed off

"Look, I can see you're mad"

"Oh hell yeah I'm mad"

"But he's just a kid, a bratty kid, but still a kid"

"You guys know I can hear you, right?" the boy shouted from the sidelines

"Shut up brat, the grownups are talking" Ember commanded before turning back to her boyfriend "So what's your point?"

"My point is, we can't just beat him up and we seriously can't turn him in to Walker" Danny pointed out

Ember considered his point, "You're right, he wouldn't last two seconds in that hellhole. But what could we do?"

Danny thought for a moment, "I've got an idea"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Walker sat at his desk with his face in a book as Skulker sat in his aquarium sharpening a tiny spear, the little green blob looked up from his work to notice his keeper's reading material, "Is that a teen romance novel?" he asked in his squeaky voice

Walker nodded "Yep, there a problem with that?"

The small ghost shook his head "I suppose not, I just never took you for the romantic type" he pointed out

The warden shrugged "Doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good love story every now and then"

Skulker nodded, seeing his keeper's logic, "So, is it any good?" he inquired

"It's not bad, it's using the old trope where the main character's best friend has a crush on him but he's too stupid to get the hint" he explained with a groan, "I hate that trope"

"So it's just gonna lead up to them getting together?" the smaller ghost asked

Walker shook his head, "Actually, that's where things get interesting, see Drake, the main character, he's got a thing for this other girl named Emma, now Sarah, the friend, is going crazy with jealousy and trying to break them up"

"So who's Drake end up with?" Skulker asked with intrigue

"I don't know yet, I'm only eight chapters in"

The two's conversation was interrupted when Danny and Ember entered the room, "We found your public nuisance" Ember said as she held up Youngblood by the back of his jacket collar

"Ugh, let me go, ya jerk" the boy demanded, having dropped his pirate accent entirely

Walker gave a confused look as he examined the boy "No this can't be right, he's just a kid"

The ghost-rocker rolled her eyes " _How very observant of you sheriff_ , now what are we gonna do with him?"

The warden thought about the situation at hand "Well… he did break the rules, and when you break the rules you've gotta pay your debt"

Danny shook his head "No way, you can't just toss him in there with all those lunatics!"

"Well, what do you suggest Mr. Phantom? My establishment doesn't exactly have a maximum security day-care center" he pointed out

"How about this, just let him off with a warning and put him on probation, if he screws up again then you can do whatever you think is best" Danny suggested

Walker considered the young man's idea, "Hmm, I suppose there's no real legal precedent for this kind of situation... Alright, you've got yourself a deal"

The ghost-boy sighed in relief

"And to make it official-" he pulled out the rule-book and a pen before writing as he spoke "In the event that the ghost of a child is apprehended, he will be given one warning and be put on probation under the supervision of the ghost/ghosts who arrested him/her"

"Wait, what?!" Ember shouted in surprise

"You heard me, he's your problem now and that's a rule" the warden said with a smirk

The ghost-rocker was visibly pissed as she dropped Youngblood and slammed her hands on the desk, "You can't do this to us! We have lives to get back to, things to do!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you two are real busy smoking dope with those two fornicators you hang out with"

"What's a fornicator?" Youngblood asked in confusion before his parrot whispered something in his ear, bringing a disgusted look to his face "Oh gross!"

Walker shook his head in frustration "Look, either you keep him out of trouble or I'm locking up all three of you, savvy?"

"Remember that one, it's a good pirate word" the parrot said to the boy

Ember groaned in anger "Ugh, fine" she grabbed the young ghost by the arm and dragged him toward the door as Danny followed close behind

As the three young ghosts left, Walker sighed in relief as he picked up his novel, "Walker, would it be against the rules for you to read to me?" Skulker asked from within his small glass prison

The warden considered his request "I suppose not", he flipped to the beginning of the book and started to read, "Young Drake Frazier was just fourteen when he met the wild young lady that would change his life…"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"So, how do I look?" Danny asked as he showed off his new pirate outfit which consisted of a long black coat and a red bandanna, to Kitty and Johnny, who he'd convinced to come hang out with him, Ember, and Youngblood

"You make one handsome pirate, Danny" Kitty said

Johnny rolled his eyes "Yeah, whatever. I hear pirate I think rum so who do I talk to about getting my buzz on?"

"I'd take it up with the captain" Danny said as he pointed to Youngblood's cabin

"Thank you" Johnny said as he walked off to address the boy, "Hey Captain Kid, let's have a little talk about my pay!"

As the biker walked away, Danny looked to see Ember sitting on the side of the ship, playing her guitar, "Hey Kitty, do me a favor and make sure Johnny doesn't do anything stupid"

She rolled her eyes " _Oh yippee, now I get to do that on a boat, what a great change of pace_ " she said sarcastically as she went off to find her boyfriend

Danny approached Ember and sat down next to her, "So, you still hate me?"

She sighed in response "Of course not, you're too damn cute for me to hate you. Especially when you're dressed up all sexy like Errol Flynn"

The ghost-boy gave her a curious look "Who?"

"He played a pirate in a movie" she specified

"Oh, you mean like Johnny Depp?"

"Who?", the two looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing

"We've gotta watch more movies together" Ember said

"We can start tonight, but for now let's just make the best of our current situation"

"What, by playing pirate?" she asked with a laugh, "That doesn't sound a little juvenile to you?"

"I thought you were all about youthful rebellion" he pointed out, "And besides, I think you'd look really sexy as a pirate"

Ember blushed before pulling her boyfriend into a deep kiss, she pulled back and looked deep into his eyes "If you keep sweet-talking me like that, I can't be held responsible for what unspeakable things I might do to you"

"I-I'll be sure to keep that in mind" Danny said as he struggled to catch his breath, "Let's go check on the others"

After their chat, the two joined the rest of the crew, "So Captain Youngblood, where are we headed" Ember asked

The boy gave an irritated look, "Actually, it's Cabin-boy Youngblood now, there was a small mutiny"

"That's right, say hello to Captain 13!" Johnny exclaimed from the wheel of the ship

"What?! Kitty, I gave you one job!" Danny shouted

"Yeah, I thought about that, but I've always had a thing for men in positions of power. Besides, he said I could be his first mate" she explained

"FIRST STOP, THE HUMAN WORLD!" Johnny shouted, "WE'RE ROBBING A LIQUOR STORE!"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Jazz sat at the desk in her room doing homework when she heard a knock at her window, she looked up from her textbook to see Danny waving at her from behind the glass, she got up and opened the window to greet her brother with a smile, "Danny, what are you doing here?", she examined him further and chuckled "And why are you dressed like that?"

"It's a long story" he answered, "Wanna hang out with me and the gang? We've got tons of rum" he offered

"Danny, you know I don't drink" she said

"I know, but Johnny does and he's hilarious when he's wasted"

"Johnny's gonna be there?" she asked a little too excitedly

"Yep" the ghost-boy answered, "Him, Ember, and Kitty"

Jazz's excitement died down slightly at the ghost-chick's name, she didn't have anything against Kitty, she was just... dating Johnny, and Jazz was mature enough to admit that she may be harboring a bit of jealousy, but still, that doesn't mean she can't go out for a bit of fun "Alright, I'll come hang out for a while"

"Great!" Danny exclaimed as he took her by the hand, "Let's go!"

Jazz was taken by surprise when they were suddenly engulfed by a whirl of green energy and transported to the deck of a ghostly pirate ship floating over Amity Park, "Phantom's back!" she heard a voice shout from behind her, she turned around to see Johnny lounging on the side of the ship in just a tank-top and a pirate hat, "Good to see ya again, Red" he greeted with a smirk

"Hey Johnny, good to see you too" Jazz said, hoping that the nickname was referring to her hair and not her face

"Hey _Captain 13_ , where'd Ember and Kitty go?" Danny asked

"They'll be back soon, they went to go pick up some stuff" he answered before turning his attention back to his best friend's sister, "So Red, what have you been up to since we last met?" he asked in a flirtatious tone

Jazz giggled before answering, "Oh, I've mostly been doing schoolwork, I've gotta work hard if I want to get into a good college"

Johnny smiled in return, "Of course you've been, you're a smart girl, I can tell"

The redhead blushed slightly, "Well, I really like your boat" she said, changing the subject

"Thanks, I just got it today"

"He means he just stole it from me today" another voice interrupted, prompting Jazz to turn toward the young ghost-child, "From me!"

"A good cabin-boy is seen but not heard, Youngblood" Johnny said irritably

"Bite me, Captain Crap-head" the boy said in response

The bird on his shoulder rolled his eyes, " _Very clever,_ but I do believe you have a deck to swab"

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Youngblood asked angrily

"I'm on the captain's side, and that's why I currently outrank you" the parrot answered

"That's right" Johnny said with a grin, "Now swab" he commanded before turning back to Jazz, "Now where were we?"

"Johnny, can you come with me, I need to talk to you about something" Danny requested

"In a minute, Phantom"

"Actually, I think now would be a perfect time" the ghost-boy said as he pushed johnny toward the ship's cabin. Once inside, Danny closed the door and slammed Johnny against the wall, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded

"What? We were just talking" he defended, Danny slammed him against the wall yet again

"Did you happen to forget something? You know, like the fact that you have a girlfriend!"

The biker scoffed, "Come on, I'm a guy, of course I'm gonna flirt around"

"I don't flirt around" the ghost-boy pointed out

"Yeah? Let me know how that's going when you and Ember have been dating for thirty years" Johnny countered

"I would never cheat on Ember, I freaking lo-" Danny stopped before he could finish that thought

"Careful Phantom, don't ever use the L-word unless you really mean it" Johnny warned, "Like this, I love Kitty more than anything else in this world or any other, and I'd never cheat on her for any reason, I'm just having a little fun" he said in a stern tone

The ghost-boy just stood there with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face that showed he meant business, "Listen good Thurman because I'm only gonna say this once. Kitty's been like a second sister to me the whole time I've known her, Jazz actually is my sister, and if you even think about hurting either of them then you'd better hope that there's some kind of after-afterlife" he warned in a dark tone

Johnny nodded in response, understanding the seriousness of the situation, "Alright, no problem man, no more flirting with Jazz, I've got it"

Danny nodded in return "Good"

The biker smirked "But still, you've gotta admit she's pretty hot"

"She's my sister"

"Yeah I know, but if she wasn't your sister, you'd totally hit that, right?"

Danny just gave a disbelieving look as he turned away "I am beyond done with this conversation". The ghost-boy exited the cabin to find that Ember and Kitty had returned with the greasy old hippie known only as Mac who was setting up some kind of equipment, "What's all this?" he asked

"Broadcasting equipment, Mac said he can get my song playing on the radio!" Ember explained with excitement

"I've never had a strong enough signal to broadcast further than a few blocks, but from this height it should be able to reach every radio in the city" the old man explained as he set up the equipment, "And with a little bit of ingenuity, I can even hijack some of the more popular stations"

"Isn't that illegal?" Danny asked

The hippie laughed "Probably, but let's just see 'em try and stop me!"

Ember walked over to her boyfriend and leaned on his shoulder, "Isn't it great babypop, pretty soon you'll be sleeping with a big radio star" she said, causing the boy to blush

"Alright, ready when you are Amber" Mac said

"Ember" she corrected as she got ready to perform

"Right, sorry. We're on in five, four, three, two…" the old man cleared his throat before speaking into the mic, "Ladies and gentlemen of Amity Park, we interrupt your manufactured Hollywood bullcrap to inform you that this station has been taken over by pirates, so just sit back, relax, and listen to something that doesn't suck for once as you hear my good friend Ember McLain perform her original song… what's it called again?"

"Remember" she answered

Mac rolled his eyes "I can't remember, that's why I'm asking you!"

"The song is called remember!" she said irritably

"Now was that so hard? Alright, you heard her folks, this is Ember McLain with Remember"

From the moment the ghost-rocker started playing, Danny was completely enamored, he didn't know what it was but every time he watched her perform was like the first, he could listen to her play all day, and he would have too if it weren't for what happened next

 **Blast**

Right before the song's final chorus, the equipment was blown up by a beam of energy, leaving Mac slightly annoyed, "You know, that would probably bug me more if I hadn't stolen it" he said with a sigh

Looking up, the group saw the culprit to be a masked figure in black armor floating on a hoverboard, " _Aw, did I ruin your little party_? Good" she said as she pointed her blaster at Ember and fired

Her blaster, however, was knocked out of the way by a flying shoe, courtesy of the old man whose property she'd just vandalized. Not a second later, the assailant was attacked by the pissed off rockstar herself, "You wreck my friend's stuff, ruin my show, just who the hell are you and what do you want!?" she demanded as she whaled on her opponent

"Just call me the Black Huntress" she answered before hitting the ghost-rocker with a blast of energy, "And I'm here to take you down"

"Sorry, that's just not gonna work for me" Danny said as he slammed into the Huntress and threw her into the side of the ship

"Hey, be careful!" Youngblood shouted from the deck, but his plea fell on deaf ears as Danny continued to smash his foe into the hull

After a short struggle, the black-clad hunter managed to get away from the ghost-boy, "Is that all you've got?" she asked breathlessly

"Hey, Green Goblin wannabe" a voice called from the deck of the ship, she turned around to see Jazz holding a lit match to the fuse of a cannon

"Wait, Jazz?" before she could react, the Huntress was hit dead-on with a cannonball, effectively knocking her out

Danny managed to catch his enemy before she could fall to the ground and laid her down gently on the deck of the ship

Johnny approached the unconscious girl and prepared to unmask her, "Alright, let's see who this ghost hunter really is", but before he could, the hoverboard started beeping and automatically flew off into the distance with its owner, "Aw man, I wanted to make a Scooby Doo reference when I unmasked her"

"You can do it next time, I've got a feeling this isn't our last encounter with that nutjob" Danny said

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

As the Huntress flew back home defeated, a voice started speaking through her helmet, "Well Samantha, how was the suit's maiden voyage?"

"Not great, I got my ass handed to me" Sam lamented

"But did you get the sample?" her mentor asked

"Sure did, one clump of Danny's hair" she said, "I also got some from that rocker bitch he hangs around with, maybe we can find some kind of use for it"

"Excellent, now we can move toward phase two. You've done well for your first mission Samantha, I'm very proud of you"

The girl couldn't help but smile at this as she sped through the air toward her home.

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait, some stuff came up, I had to rewrite this chapter like three times, and I've also been working on a lot of personal projects, but don't think I forgot about you guys.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think with a review, I really do love reading those, and be sure to follow if you haven't already, that way you'll never miss a new episode.**


	9. Enter Danielle

Vlad stood in his laboratory with a clipboard in hand, jotting down notes as he examined his latest experiment, the man was so deep in his work that he hadn't even noticed his apprentice enter the room, "Morning Vlad." Sam greeted

"Good morning Samantha, I trust you slept well."

"You know it. How's the experiment going?" she asked

Vlad sighed "Not bad, but there is an interesting development involving the pure ghost DNA you obtained." he explained

"Oh no, did that skank's hair mess up the whole project?" the girl asked worriedly

The older man shook his head, "On the contrary, it saved us from a fair amount of trouble. The subject would have been completely unstable without it. Now we just need a sample of pure human DNA to complete the stabilization."

Sam smiled at the news "Well that's great! So you just need to stick a clump of your hair into the machine and we'll be good to go?"

Vlad shook his head "No, that wouldn't work." he casually remarked

"Why not?"

The man's eyes widened as he caught what he'd just said, that was one conversation that he had no desire to get into at the moment, "Well, you see, I have a... condition that would render my DNA useless in this scenario." he explained, not even needing to lie

"You mean like a disease?"

He shook his head "More of an abnormality, it's complicated but my DNA simply won't work."

"Oh.", Sam thought for a moment before coming up with an idea "Well, how about mine?" she suggested

Vlad's face lit up at the idea, "Yes, that would work perfectly! You wouldn't mind, would you?"

The girl grinned at her mentor "Anything for science." she said simply before grabbing a pair of scissors off the adjacent table and cutting off the end of her ponytail, she then walked it over to the experiment's containment chamber and putting it into the machine.

The computer started beeping as a sweet feminine voice came over the speaker, "DNA sample is now being added." it said

Sam gave her mentor a curious look, "I've been meaning to ask you, why does the computer's voice sound like Maddie?"

Vlad's eyes widened as he cleared his throat, "Oh, does it? I've never noticed."

Luckily for Vlad, the computer spoke up before the girl could press the subject any further, "DNA sample identified as Samantha Manson, it is now being merged with the samples of Daniel Fenton and stupid blue-haired rock bitch."

"I thought we agreed to call her 'Sound Spectre'." Vlad said, giving his apprentice a confused look

The goth shrugged in response, "What can I say, I got creative."

"DNA added." the computer informed

"Excellent!" Vlad exclaimed, "Now it just needs a week or two to-"

"Warning, abnormality detected."

"Oh crap, what's going on?" Sam asked with great concern

"I'm not sure." the older man examined the experiment more closely before making a surprising discovery, "Interesting."

"What? Is it bad?"

Vlad shook his head and smiled, "Not at all, my dear. In fact, it would seem our little experiment is even more successful than I'd predicted."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Danny exclaimed while his girlfriend cringed in embarrassment over the story that her old friend was telling.

Mac laughed at Danny's reaction "Nope, I'm a thousand percent serious. The cool badass ghost-rocker, Ember McLain used to be a huge nerd."

Ember growled in anger, "Mac, you're currently the only still-living member of the group, do you really want me to change that?" she threatened

The old hippie ignored her as he continued "I'm telling you Danny, she was the spitting image of Velma from Scooby Doo, same glasses, same bulky sweater, the only difference was that her hair was a lighter shade of red." he described before taking a drag off his cigarette, a thought suddenly popped into his head, "Actually, I've got an old picture of her, gimme a sec." he said before walking into another room of the trailer.

Ember groaned in frustration "Ugh, why is he doing this to me?"

"You always said he was like a brother to you in life, it's pretty much his job to embarrass you in front of your boyfriend." Danny answered with a smile

"Found it!" the old man shouted from the other room, he then came back in and handed a framed picture to Danny.

Ember braced herself for the ensuing shitstorm of jokes, but they never came, instead she looked over to see Danny staring intently at the picture, "Wow." was all he said. It's weird, the girl in the picture looked almost nothing like the girl he knew today, but he still found her beautiful, just in a different way.

Mac smiled at the boy's reaction "See Amber? He doesn't think you're ugly, I never thought you were ugly, and the only ones that did were those uptight douchebags like Brad."

The girl cringed at the name, "Don't talk about him, I never want to hear about him again."

"Not even about what I did to him after you died?" he asked with a grin

Ember thought for a moment before asking, "What did you do?"

Mac laughed as he recalled the events, "I smashed a chair across his face, it broke his nose and shattered half his teeth. He wears dentures now and he's got a really bad lisp, the popular group kicked him out pretty quick after that."

Ember couldn't help but smile, "Thank you." was all she could say

"Don't mention it, he had that coming for a long time and I had a lot of steam to blow off after you died. But now you're back, so I guess it all worked out perfectly… well, mostly. The bastard did get one good shot in." he said as he reached up to his face and pulled out his glass eye

The two ghost-teens looked at the man in shock, "Oh my god!" Ember shouted

Mac laughed and waved it off, "Nah, it's great. You bet a man five hundred dollars that you can bite your own eye and he'll never turn it down, they'll take it just to see if you really can. Besides, I may be half blind but I'm still alive." he said before lighting up another cigarette and taking a thoughtful drag, "Then again, if I knew ghosts actually existed I probably would've died years ago when I was still young and beautiful."

"That must've been one hell of a shock to see all your friends come back after all this time." Danny remarked

The old man shook his head, "No, I was shocked when I first heard about crazy old lunch lady Doris coming back from the dead to haunt the high school, then by the fifth news story about ghosts I was just wondering when the old gang would come to visit."

The three's conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Ember's cell phone going off, she pulled it out and groaned when she read the caller ID and picked it up, "What do you want, Walker?" she asked irritably

"You never picked up the brat today." the warden's deep voice said through the phone

"What are you talking about?! He's right he-" she looked to her side to see that the young ghost was absent, "Oh, I knew I forgot something this morning."

Walker sighed in frustration, "Just hurry up and get him, I don't have time to babysit!" he commanded before hanging up.

Ember closed her phone and floated to her feet, "Come on babypop, we've gotta go pick up Youngblood."

Danny facepalmed as he got up as well, "Ah, I completely forgot about him."

Mac laughed at the two, "Amazing, you only have one responsibility split between the both of you and you can't even take care of that."

"Am I really hearing a drug dealer talk to me about responsibility?" the ghost-rocker asked disbelievingly

"I'm not a drug dealer, I just really enjoy selling weed." he corrected, "And I'm just saying, you might wanna get used to taking care of this kid if you ever want to have your own."

Ember scoffed at the idea, "Kids? What, and ruin this body?" she said as she gestured to herself, "I don't think so. It's gonna be a cold day in hell before anyone calls Ember McLain 'mommy'."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Skulker could only sit in torment as the loud tapping on his terrarium persisted, "Child, would you please STOP DOING THAT!" he requested only for Youngblood to smirk at him

"Why? Are you gonna do something to stop me?" the young ghost asked as he continued tapping.

The green blob turned to address Walker, "Do... Something..." he demanded

The warden gave a smirk of his own, "What can I do? He ain't breaking any rules."

The tiny ghost went into a fit of rage at this, "I SWEAR, ONE DAY I WILL BE OUT OF THIS ACCURSED PRISON, AND WHEN I AM YOU WILL PAY, YOU WILL ALL PAY! I WILL NAIL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TO MY WALL AND DESTROY ALL THAT YOU HOLD DEAR!" he screamed only for Walker and Youngblood to laugh, "STOP LAUGHING AT ME! I AM THE GHOST ZONE'S GREATEST-"

"Yeah, we've heard." Walker interrupted, "Well I certainly wish you luck with that little endeavor, and fortunately for you, you've still got about three million years to plan it all out before your sentence ends."

The office door opened to reveal the Ghost Zone's actual greatest hunters, "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!" Skulker shouted, "THIS ANNOYING LITTLE PEST HAS BEEN MAKING MY AFTER-LIFE A LIVING HELL FOR TWO STRAIGHT HOURS!"

Ember glared at the tiny green ghost, "Watch your fucking language, there's a kid in the room!"

" _Role model of the year._ " Youngblood said sarcastically

The ghost-rocker turned her glare toward the boy, "Shut up and let's go." she commanded

"Yes ma'am." he said as he floated over to join the two teens, bringing a grin to Ember's face

"Hey buddy, has Walker been treating you alright?" Danny asked as he ruffled the boy's hair

"Yeah, he says I've got the nicest cell in the whole prison." he answered

"You'd better, I don't really wanna have to come back here and break the 'don't kick the warden's ass' rule." Ember said, shooting Walker a smirk

The sheriff smirked in return, "Lord knows we wouldn't want that." he said as the group began to leave.

Once they were gone, Walker turned his attention to his pet, "Why are you looking at me like that?" Skulker asked, the warden simply grinned as he began tapping on the glass of the terrarium, "OH GOD NO, YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Deep in the seemingly endless void of the Ghost Zone flew a young female ghost with glowing green eyes and snowy white hair with flaming blue highlights, she sped as fast as she could through the sea of green in fear of getting caught by her former keepers.

She didn't know how far she'd gotten by the time she was overly fatigued, she examined the area in hopes of finding a place to rest and lucky her, there was a large floating island not too far from her, "Heavily forested, plenty of hiding spots, perfect!" she said with a smile as she flew down to the island.

The girl sat against a tree and took a few deep breaths, she had to have been flying for two straight hours without a break. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the two pictures she'd found while going through her creator's research files, "I don't know who you two are, but I'll find you, and maybe I'll finally get some answers when I do." she said as she examined the photos labeled 'Daniel Fenton' and 'Stupid blue-haired rock bitch'.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and a deep menacing voice begins speaking, "Who dares to enter the lair of Undergrowth!" it said, resonating throughout the entire forest

The young ghost quickly flew to her feet and looked around for the owner of the voice, "Oh jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean trespass, I was just tired and needed a place to sit down." she explained

Suddenly, a plant-like figure began to materialize in front of the girl and stare her down with a distrusting look, "How do I know you aren't here to hurt my children?" he asked

"No, I'd never do anything like-" the girl stopped when she heard the familiar hum of a hoverboard overhead, "Oh crap, I've gotta hide."

Undergrowth looked up at the source of the noise to see a dark figure flying through the void, he then looked back to the girl in front of him, "Hold still and be quiet." he commanded

The girl was taken by surprise when the vegetation around her began to engulf her, but she did what she was told and stayed quiet as the sound of the hoverboard got closer, Undergrowth scowled as the woman in black armor approached him, "Hey ghost, have you seen this girl fly through here?" she asked as she held up a picture of the girl in question labeled 'Danielle'

"No I haven't, now I suggest you go search somewhere else." he answered

"Gladly." the woman said bitterly before flying off into the distance

Once he was sure she was gone, the plants surrounding Danielle retreated to their original locations, "Thank you so much, Mr. Undergrowth. I don't even want to think of what they'd do if she caught me and god knows I would've never been able to take her on in a fight."

The plant-ghost nodded in understanding "Well, I sense no hostility in you, and so long as you are a peaceful visitor you are welcome to take refuge in my garden." he explained

"Thanks again. Your garden is very beautiful." the girl complimented

Undergrowth gave a proud smile, "Isn't it? I'm just glad I can keep it safe, the Ghost Zone is a very dangerous place."

Danielle sighed "Oh great, and I barely even know how to use my powers. I'm never gonna survive here." she lamented before her face suddenly lit up with an idea, "Wait, you're a pretty powerful ghost, right?"

"Yes…" he answered with a curious look, "Why do you ask?"

"You could train me! Teach me how to control my powers and defend myself!" she suggested

The ghost looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, "No." he answered simply before walking away

Danielle followed him as he disappeared into the forest, "What do you mean, no?!" she asked, looking around for the plant-like ghost

"I mean exactly what I said, no I'm not going to train you." his voice said, resonating throughout the forest

"Why not?"

"Why should I?" he retorted, "Why should I turn my precious garden into a training ground for you to freeze or burn down?"

"I don't even know how to freeze anything or burn anything down! All I can do is shoot energy beams and control water!" she exclaimed

There was a moment of silence before Undergrowth materialized in front of her with an intrigued look on his face, "Water?"

Danielle nodded as she turned to face a nearby pond, focusing on it as she willed the liquid out of the ground and formed it into a large sphere only for it to fall back in a moment later when the girl lost her grip, "I can only do it for a couple of seconds before I run out of energy" she explained

"You're a water elemental." Undergrowth said, "How did you die exactly?"

"I… didn't." she answered confusedly, "I've always been able to do this."

"Interesting, so you were born to two ghosts with control over water?" the plant-ghost deduced

Danielle shook her head "No, it's… complicated." she answered

Undergrowth considered the situation at hand, "A ghost with a core of fire would burn the vegetation, a core of ice would freeze it, causing it to die. Water, however, feeds the plants, gives them life. Perhaps I was a bit quick with my decision."

"Does that mean you'll train me?" she asked hopefully

The ghost nodded, "Yes, I will train you."

The girl's face lit up with excitement, "Great! When can we start?" she asked

"I think right now would be the perfect time." Undergrowth said ominously

Danielle started to panic as she felt the surrounding vegetation wrapped around her once again, "Undergrowth, what's going on?"

"The first step of your training, ghost-child. Just keep still, relax, and let the power flow through you."

"Is this gonna hurt?" she asked fearfully

"Yes."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Sam flew through the ghost portal and into Vlad's lab, removing her helmet as she did, "I take it you didn't have any luck?" the deep voice of her mentor said, the girl simply shook her head in response, "I see. No matter, she was the inferior copy anyway, far too rebellious."

"Do you think we'll have the same problem with him?" the goth asked as she gestured to the containment tank that held the other clone

Vlad sighed in response, "I certainly hope not, but we should be cautious in case Edgar decides to follow in his sister's footsteps."

 **A/N: You all called it, every single one of you, little did you know you were only half right. That's right, in this universe Dani is one of two halfa twins and I guarantee none of you saw that one coming.**

 **So yeah, Edgar is kind of like an antithesis of Dani, kind of like how Mac is an antithesis of Vlad. And I think it's obvious that Sam was the one to pick Edgar's name, being the goth that she supposedly is even though she never really acted all that goth in the show. Seriously, all she ever did was wear black, that doesn't automatically make you a goth.**

 **Anyway, be sure to leave your thoughts with a review, I always love to hear everyone's opinions, good or bad, and be sure to follow if you haven't already so you don't miss the next chapter.**


	10. Halfa training

Danielle started to panic as she felt the surrounding vegetation wrap around her once again, "Undergrowth, what's going on?"

"The first step of your training, ghost-child. Just keep still, relax, and let the power flow through you."

"Is this gonna hurt?" she asked fearfully

"Yes."

The plant-ghost was right, the whole process didn't take more than a moment, but it was the most agonizing moment of Danielle's entire two months of life. She hoped with every fiber of her being that the vegetation around her would soon recede from her body, and much to her relief it did. The girl fell to her knees and sighed in relief as the plant life retreated back to its original location. "What… the… heck?!" she asked breathlessly

"Do you feel any different?" the plant-ghost asked

"Yeah, I feel like I just had a giant spike shoved into my chest!" she answered angrily, "What did you do to me?! I'm so mad I could-" before she could finish her sentence, Danielle was taken by surprise when a large thorn shot out of her hand and into the side of a tree, "Woah! That's new." she said as she examined her hand

"You'll find you have quite a few new abilities now." Undergrowth said with a grin

Danielle continued to examine her hand as a flower suddenly grew out of it, "Woah, cool." she said in awe before kneeling down and experimentally placing her hands on the ground, watching as she grew a whole flower patch before her eyes

"There are two only ghosts who possess these powers, myself and now you." the plantlike ghost explained, "And with my help, you will learn to harness them to their full potential."

"So, when do we start?" she asked with a smile

"Whenever you are ready, child."

The young girl gave a look of disapproval at being called a child, "Please don't call me that, my name's Danielle or just Dani. And I'm ready to start right now." she said enthusiastically

Undergrowth nodded, "Very well, Dani. Let us begin."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Vlad watched from the roof of his castle as his apprentice flew side by side with the young half-ghost, the man nodded in approval as they both landed in front of him, "Excellent work Edgar, your flight speed has improved a great deal."

"Thank you sir, it's a lot easier now that I've got the hang-"

The boy was interrupted by the sound of Sam clearing her throat, "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked rhetorically

Edgar looked down to see his mistake, "Right, sorry." he said before switching back to his human form, "It won't happen again, ma'am."

Sam nodded, "Make sure it doesn't." she ordered

"Edgar, would you please give Samantha and I a moment alone?" Vlad requested to which the young clone nodded and went inside, "Don't you think you're a bit hard on him? It was a simple mistake."

Sam shook her head, "No, I don't want him in ghost mode any longer than he absolutely needs to be."

"You don't trust him?"

"I don't trust ghosts." she clarified

"Not even half-ghosts?"

The girl scoffed, "Oh, you mean like Danny? He's only a half-ghost and look at him!" she pointed out

"Daniel's case is an… unfortunate one. He lives among ghosts, his personality remolded by their influence. Edgar hasn't even seen another ghost aside from our little escape artist." the man reasoned, "I'm sure a little extra time in his secondary form won't result in any major problems."

Sam understood where her mentor was coming from but she still didn't like it, "I'm just worried, you know? I don't want him turning into another enemy we'll have to fight."

The older man nodded, "I understand your concern, I simply ask that you keep an open mind. He is our only chance of saving young Daniel, after all."

The goth sighed, "I hate it when you're right."

"Which I usually am." Vlad said with a smirk, "Now go on, take a fifteen-minute break and then come back to complete your training for the day."

Sam rolled her eyes " _Oh wow, a whole five more minutes than yesterday._ " she said sarcastically as she went inside

"And stow the attitude, young lady!" the man ordered, Vlad sighed in frustration before looking out upon the miles of untouched nature surrounding his castle, 'She'll come around, sooner or later she'll accept the boy for what he is and in turn accept me for what I am, then we can really get to work.' he thought ominously

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Dani sat in the forest, waiting for something to happen, "You know, when you first told me I could control plants I kind of assumed you were gonna show me how." she said to the plantlike ghost sitting next to her

"I never said you could control nature, nobody can, nor should anyone try. You have the power to work with nature, to become one with it in a symbiotic relationship, it will help you so long as you help it. But first you must learn to understand it, and the best way to understand something is by listening to it." Undergrowth explained

"So I just need to sit here and listen to the trees?" she asked

"Yes." the elder ghost answered simply

The girl sighed in defeat before closing her eyes and listening, focusing on the plants around her for what felt like hours until… she gasped "I felt something!" she exclaimed

"Yes, go on." her mentor insisted

"It was weird, I felt this kind of… something I can't explain, it's like something just started to… connect." she described excitedly

"Good, you and the plants are gaining a mutual understanding of each other, you're conversing with them on their level." the plant-ghost explained, "Just keep going and soon we'll be able to move on to your next lesson."

Danielle nodded and continued to focus on the nature surrounding her, feeling more and more connected to it by the second.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Sam entered Vlad's home theater to find Edgar watching some cartoon about a kid with a pink hat, she approached the young clone and sat down next to him, "What are you watching?" she asked

The boy shrugged in response, "Some weird Nickelodeon show."

The goth looked at the boy, it was so surreal to her, he looked almost exactly like Danny in every way except for the eyes, they were violet, just like hers'. "Vlad said we're gonna start training again in a few minutes."

"Alright"

There was a short pause before Sam gave a sigh, "Look, you get why I don't like you going ghost too much, right?"

Edgar nodded in response, "Yeah, you're afraid it's gonna turn me evil."

"Yeah, that's right." she affirmed

"Well you shouldn't worry about that, I'm not really a ghost, I'm just a human with ghost powers." he explained

The goth couldn't help but smile at this, maybe it was the way he looked and talked just like her former best friend but there was just something about his words that helped reassure her, 'Maybe I am worried about nothing.' she considered, Sam decided to think more about this later, but for now she had to get back to her training, "We should probably get going, you know how much Vlad hates to be kept waiting" she said with a smile

"Alright, sounds good." Edgar said as he got up, switching into his ghost form when he did

It was then that Sam remembered the other reason she didn't like to see the boy in his secondary form. As a human, Edgar had the perfect combination of both Sam and Danny's features, he probably could've passed for their child if he wasn't biologically two years younger than them, but as a ghost he lost all of his resemblance to her, his eyes turned from violet to green and his hair turned white with those flaming blue highlights that she hated so much.

Sam couldn't stand ghosts in general but to see this child, practically her own child, with the features of that stupid blue-haired rock bitch, it made her absolutely furious.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danielle sat against a tree, taking a short break from her training, she'd been at it for hours when one little problem just became harder and harder to ignore, "Oh god, I'm starving." she said to herself. She didn't consider hunger as a problem when she ran away and now she was regretting it. "I should've grabbed something from the kitchen, like a bag of chips or a-"

Before she could finish the thought, a piece of fruit fell from the tree she was sitting against, right into her lap, she picked it up, hesitant to eat it, "Go ahead, it's not poisonous." Undergrowth assured, "I told you, nature will take care of you so long as you take care of it."

The girl nodded before taking a bite of the fruit, finishing it in moments, "Thanks, I really needed that. I haven't eaten all day."

The plant-ghost gave her a curious look, "You're not an average ghost are you?" he asked

"What do you mean?"

"Ghosts don't need to eat, yet you grow hungry. Why is that?"

Dani hesitated as she tried to think of a way to explain herself, "Well, I'm kind of… part human. I was cloned from a ghost, a human, and some kind of hybrid."

Undergrowth gave an intrigued look, "Interesting."

"Yeah. Actually, the whole reason I even came here in the first place was to find the two ghosts I was cloned from." the girl pulled the two pictures from her pocket, "Here, maybe you know them."

"Not likely, I try to stay away from other ghosts as much as possible." the plant-ghost took the photos from her and examined them, "Hmm… no, I don't know anyone named Daniel Fenton, unless…" he paused in thought for a moment

"Unless what?!" Dani asked

"A few weeks ago I had somebody try to hide in my garden from two bounty hunters named Danny Phantom and Ember McLain. A lot of post-living ghosts change their names after they die, and usually and usually the ones they pick aren't too different from their original."

"You think these bounty hunters might be them?"

Undergrowth shook his head, "I can't say, but they might be worth seeking out once you're better equipped to defend yourself in the Ghost Zone."

The girl sighed in response, "Well, it's the only lead I've got so far. Thanks Undergrowth."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Dani's eyes shot open before she looked around in a dazed state, she found herself surrounded by a white void of emptiness that seemed to go on forever, "Where am I?" she asked herself, the last thing she remembered was being exhausted after a long day of training with Undergrowth when she laid down and went to sleep- "Oh, I'm dreaming." she realized

"Danielle?" she heard a familiar voice say from behind her

The girl turned around to see a face that she knew very well, a face that looked a lot like her own, "Edgar? What are you doing in my dream?" she asked

Her twin gave a confused look, "I have no idea."

"Maybe this is some kind of ghost power." the girl reasoned

Seeing that as a sound explanation, Edgar nodded in agreement, "Where are you?" he asked

Dani scoffed at the question " _Oh yeah, I'm gonna tell you exactly where I am so you three can come get me._ " she said sarcastically

"Why did you leave in the first place? I've missed you."

"I miss you too. But I couldn't stay there, not after I found this." she said as she pulled a folded up document from her pocket and handed it to her brother, "They're using us, we're just some crazy science experiment for them to research."

Edgar spoke out loud as he read the document, "Step one, create half-ghost subject. Step two, study subject to find weaknesses. Step three, find a way to separate ghost-half from human-half."

"See?"

"I think you may be reading this the wrong way. Maybe this is a good thing, Sam is always talking about how bad ghosts are."

"Oh really? Well the ghost I met today doesn't seem so bad. He's nice, he's caring, and he's even training me to use my powers. Explain that!" Danielle challenged

"He's probably hiding something, you know how sneaky those… things can be!"

"You've never even met another ghost, you have no idea what you're talking about! And speaking of people who are hiding something, Sam and Vlad hid this plan from us, what makes you think that's all they're hiding?"

The boy groaned in frustration, "Danielle, you're acting ridiculous, just come home, please?"

She shook her head in response, "No, I'm not going back there, I'm staying in the Ghost Zone and finding the ghosts we were cloned from."

"And then what?"

"Then… I don't know." the girl admitted

"Even if you do find them, what makes you think they won't hurt you, or worse? You don't know what they're like, and in case you've already forgotten, they are ghosts!"

"Yeah, well so am I, and I can take care of myself."

 **A/N: Hello crippling self-doubt in my work! Yeah, I'm not too sure about this chapter, I wanted to give some exposition on the twins, their training, their motivations, and their personalities, but I think I screwed it all up, or maybe I didn't, I don't know. Ugh, so frustrating, I feel like the quality of the series is declining and I can not stand for that.**

 **On the bright side, I do have an idea for the next chapter banging around in my head, so that's good I guess.**

 **Anyway, remember to leave a review telling me all your thoughts and theories, and be sure to follow if you haven't already so you don't miss the next exciting installment.**


	11. He's a phantom

Sam watched intently as Vlad worked, they were on the verge of the breakthrough she'd been waiting for since she first teamed up with the older man, a way to separate the ghost-half and human-half of her best friend, a way to save him from the evil within. "Are they ready yet?" the goth asked

Vlad shook his head, "Patience, Samantha. They will be finished soon." he assured, but the girl couldn't be patient, the moment she'd been waiting months for was almost upon her and she was beginning to grow restless, "Almost… There!"

The younger girl's face immediately lit up at the exclamation, "They're ready?!"

The man nodded, "Almost, they just need to be tested. Go fetch Edgar."

Sam tensed at the boy's name, "Are they… dangerous?" she asked

"That's what we're going to find out." Vlad answered

The girl was hesitant, she'd grown attached to the young clone and the thought of him getting hurt sent a chill down her spine, "Are you sure there's not some other way to test them?"

" _Of course! We can just call up one of the many other half-ghosts we know._ " Vlad said sarcastically, "Why the sudden hesitation? The half-ghost guinea pig was your idea in the first place." he pointed out

The goth sighed, "I guess… I just don't want him getting hurt."

Vlad nodded in understanding, "I see. Well, the only other option would be using them on Daniel untested. If you're more comfortable with that."

Sam considered the second option, the thought of hurting Danny, his human half anyway, made her just as uneasy, "I don't know."

"Well those are your options, Samantha. Who's life are you more willing to risk?" the man asked, letting the ultimatum hang in the air.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

"Well, how do I look?" Danny asked as he showed off a jacket he considered buying to his girlfriend

Ember gave an affirmative nod, "I've gotta say babypop, leather really does suit you."

The ghost-boy smiled as he checked himself out in a mirror, "I think I'm gonna get it." he said as he looked at the price tag, "Oh sweet, it's fifty percent off!"

Ember smirked, "Now if only all of your clothes were one-hundred percent off." she joked

"I mean, that would definitely save me a lot of money, but the store can't just give away clothes for free."

The ghost-rocker laughed and shook her head, "God, you are such a dipstick."

After paying for the jacket, the two left the store and made their way through the mall to find Mac, "He said to meet up at the food court, right?" Danny asked

Ember nodded "I'm pretty sure- Oh wait, I see him." she said as she waved to get the older man's attention

The hippie approached the couple moments later, "Danny, sweet jacket, man." he complimented

"Thanks, did you manage to find that guy you were looking for?" the boy asked

Mac nodded, "Yeah, I found him. Lucky for me he was feeling cooperative, I got my money and I didn't even have to whip out my pieces." he explained

Ember gave a confused look, "Your pieces?"

"Yeah, my cold steel, the devil's right hands, the ol' rootie tootie point and shooties, the big boom boom sticks, my sixers, the ol' click click bangers, my pieces." the long-haired weirdo listed off

Danny and Ember just gave each other confused looks, "What the hell is he talking about?" the ghost-boy asked

his girlfriend shrugged in response "I have no idea."

Mac sighed, "My guns, I'm talking about my guns." he clarified

"Ohhh." they both said in understanding

"Well why the hell couldn't you just say that?!" Ember asked

"Yeah, and for someone who claims not to be a drug dealer, you sure do operate a lot like one." Danny pointed out

"Hey now, don't you worry about how I get my money, just be happy I got it because that means lunch is on me today."

And just like that, all questions were dropped, there's just something about the enticing offer of free food that makes almost any morally questionable act sound perfectly reasonable.

The three split up across the food court to get their respective lunches, Danny went to grab a burger, Mac decided to take a chance on a questionable looking sushi place, and Ember decided on the safest option at any food court, the pizza stand. "Two slices of pepperoni with extra cheese." she ordered, almost excited to see how they'd manage to screw it up.

Suddenly, the ghost-rocker's nostrils were assaulted by the smell of sweat and cheap cologne, the signature smell of a douche bag jock, "Hello beautiful, I see you came back to see me." Dash said without a hint of shame

"What do you want, meathead?" she asked bitterly

The jock grinned at her, clearly not getting the message, "Maybe I just want you."

Ember rolled her eyes, "Want me to what? Kick you in the balls again?"

Dash smirked, "Go ahead, I just got back from practice so I'm protected." he said as he knocked on the athletic cup under his jeans

Before Ember could retort, the gravelly voice of a certain old hippie sounded through the food court, "Is that who I think it is?" Mac asked, gaining the jock's attention, "Little Dashie Baxter, last time I saw you, you were only up to my knee."

"Mac, you know this creep?" the ghost-rocker asked

The old hippie nodded "Yeah, I used to be friends with his mom… I used to be _good_ friends with his mom." he said in a suggestive tone, Dash shuddered at the memories brought up from that little crack, "Come on kiddo, aren't ya gonna say hi to your old uncle Mac? Hell, you had no trouble saying hi to my daughter here." he said, gesturing toward Ember

"Your daughter?" the boy asked, suddenly very worried

"Why so tense, kiddo? I know you had nothing but the best intentions. Unless you wanted to end up like your old man, right?" Mac said with a laugh but his eyes were dead serious

Dash gave an audible gulp, "Yeah, best intentions, right." he said nervously, "Listen… uncle Mac, I just remembered I'm meeting up with some friends…"

"Of course, go on, have fun with your friends, I certainly won't stop you." the older man said, "Oh, but before you do, tell your mom I said hi and that my door is always open to her whenever Brad can't… perform, if ya catch my entendre."

Dash rapidly nodded and left as quickly as he could, not wanting to be around the old man any longer than absolutely necessary. Ember could only look at her friend with wide eyes of surprise, "Brad? You mean-"

"Yep, the very same, interesting to see his kid following in the bastard's footsteps." Mac pointed out, "Anyway, looks like your food's ready, let's go meet up with Danny, shall we?"

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

After eating, the ghostly trio… well, duo plus one human, exited to the mall parking lot, deep in conversation, "I keep telling you guys, I'm not a criminal, I'm just a guy that sells weed, loans out money, and intimidates people." Mac explained

Danny nodded, "Yeah, you know what they call people in that line of work? FREAKING CRIMINALS!" the boy exclaimed

The older man simply rolled his eyes, "I don't think you're understanding, try thinking of it as a combination of a bank and a pharmacy-"

But before Mac could continue with his explanation, Danny felt a familiar chill go up his throat, escaping his mouth as a blue mist, "GET DOWN!" he shouted, pulling his friends to the ground to avoid the oncoming blast. The boy turned around to see a familiar dark figure floating above them with a weapon in hand, "The Black Huntress." he addressed in a bitter tone

"Aww, you remembered, I'm touched." the armored assailant said in a mocking tone

The trio shuffled back to their feet, preparing for the oncoming battle, "ARE YOU INSANE?!" Ember asked, "YOU COULD'VE KILLED SOMEONE!"

The huntress scoffed, "Yeah, like you really care. Either way, it's an ecto-gun, it can't kill humans." she explained before lining up another shot, "Ghosts, on the other hand…" she shot at them once again, prompting the two ghosts to fly out of the way while the one human ran for cover behind a parked car

Danny shot a few energy beams at the huntress, missing as she dodged them, "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time you tried screwing with us? Remember, when you got knocked out with a rum bottle?" he asked with a smirk

"You got lucky that time, and I promise it won't happen agai-" she was cut off mid-sentence by a resounding **SMACK** to the back of the head, courtesy of Ember's guitar

"Batter up, bitch!" the ghost-rocker said with a smirk as the huntress fell from her hoverboard to the hard pavement below, cracking her face-mask right open

Ember floated down to approach the assailant with a victorious smirk, "Now ladies and gentlemen, for the daily double, this annoying bitch has been a pain in all our asses since the moment she flew in on her stupid Green-Goblin wannabe hoverboard." the ghost-rocker said in her best game show host impression

The huntress shot up to face the ghost-rocker, Fenton Thermos in hand, "Who is your worst freaking nightmare." she answered, pressing the button on the device

"GODDAMMIT, EVERY FREAKING TIME!" the ghost exclaimed as she was sucked into the thermos

The girl gave a triumphant grin as she looked down at the thermos, "Hey, let her go!" the familiar voice of Danny demanded, she smirked as she reattached the thermos to her belt and turned toward the boy, shocking him the moment he saw her face, "Sam?!"

"What's the matter, Danny? Aren't you happy to see me?"

The boy shook his head in confusion and disbelief, "What the- how- Where did you get that suit?!"

"A friend." she answered simply, "And that's not all he gave me." she said as she pulled out some kind of gun and shot the boy, knocking him to the ground

"AGH! WHAT THE?!-" he shouted as he was forced into his human form against his will, "What just happened?!" he asked as he tried to go ghost, finding he was unable to

"Ghost Paralyser, it deactivates your powers for thirty minutes. More than enough time to use these." she said as she held out her hands, her gloves started glowing purple before a claw came out of each finger, "These are called Ghost Gauntlets, they're specially designed to rip the ghost right out of you."

Still on the ground, Danny shuffled backward in fear, "Sam, you stay the hell away from me with those!" he demanded as he backed up into a parked car

"Won't it be great? You'll finally be cured, then we can go back to the way things used to be! Now just hold still and let me help you."

The ghost-boy panicked to find a way out of this, 'No powers, no leverage, no weap-' the boy's thoughts were interrupted when he felt something slide into his lower back from under the vehicle, he reached behind him to feel the object, noting the distinct texture of cold steel, 'Mac's gun!' he deduced as Sam got closer and closer to him. Quickly, Danny grabbed the pistol and pointed it at his assailant, "STAY BACK!" he commanded, prompting the other teenager to back up in surprise

"Danny, what are you-"

"Shut up!" the boy shouted as he made his way to his feet, "Now, here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna start by giving me back my girlfriend."

"Your girlfrie-?!"

"SHUT UP! Take the thermos off your belt and roll it to me." the boy instructed, Sam did as she was told and rolled him the thermos, Danny stopped it with his foot and knocked the cap off, releasing Ember from the cramped trap, "You okay?" he asked in a caring tone

"Honestly, I'm used to it at this point." the ghost-rocker admitted, bringing a much-needed smile to Danny's face

"Glad to hear it. Now, I need you to do me a favor. Get the hell out of here, as far away as you can." he requested, "Can you do that for me?"

"I mean, yeah-"

"Good. Don't worry, I'll be fine, just get yourself to safety."

"Don't do anything stupid, dipstick."

The boy smirked, "Wouldn't dream of it, beautiful." Ember smiled at her boyfriend and prepared to teleport away before she was stopped, "Just one more thing before you go." Danny said, gaining her attention, "I love you, rockstar."

The sudden admission filled the ghost-rocker with an array of emotions from happiness to worry, 'Why would he choose now to say that?' she wondered, "I love you too, babypop… See ya at home?" she asked hopefully

"You know it." he assured, the ghost-rocker smiled and nodded as she was engulfed in her signature blue fire and disappeared. Once she was gone, Danny turned his attention back to his former best friend, "Now, what's it gonna take for you to leave me and my friends alone?"

"Danny, I'm just trying to help you. Don't you want to be cured, so you can go back to your family?" she asked

"I would've gone back to my family the day I turned if I wasn't absolutely sure they'd shoot me on sight."

"What makes you so sure they would do that?"

"Hmm, let me think. Oh, maybe it was the fact that when I came back from the Ghost Zone, the first thing you did was SHOOT ME ON SIGHT!"

"Danny, I am so sorry for that, I thought you were just another ghost."

"I AM A GHOST, YOU CRAZED UP FRUIT LOOP!" he exclaimed

Sam nodded in response, "Yeah, and if you'll just let me help you-"

"Sam, I am going to say this one more time, stay away from me and the people I care about, I don't want your help, now leave me alone!" the ghost-boy said clearly and firmly

"No! I'm going to save you Danny, the real you, not this… freaking ghost!"

"And what if my ghost half is all that's left? What if my human half were to die and I became a full ghost? What would you do then?"

Sam thought for a moment but failed to reach an answer, "I… I don't know." she admitted

"Well, looks like it's time for you to figure it out." Danny stated as he pointed the gun at his head

"NO!", **CLICK-CLICK BANG** was the sound that echoed through the parking lot as the freshly killed teenager dropped to the ground. Sam rushed over to the boy with tears in her eyes, speechless as to what had just occurred, "No, this can't be happening, not again!"

The girl was so stricken with grief that she almost didn't hear the distinct **CLICK-CLICK** of a gun cocking behind her head, "Just so you know, my guns can kill humans." the familiar gravelly voice of Mac stated, "So Em, what do you want to do with her?" the old man asked

The ghost-rocker appeared out of nowhere, having only turned invisible when she claimed to leave, the look on her face was one of hatred and fury as she grabbed the goth chick by the hair and pulled her an inch away from her own face, "I am so tempted to kill you and turn in your ghost to Walker." she stated, "But I won't. No, I think I've got a punishment far worse than anything he could ever think of." she said, bringing a look of fear to the teenager's face.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

After the explosions and gunfire started, Dash Baxter took cover inside a nearby dumpster, hiding out until he was sure it was safe. He yelped in terror when the dumpster's lid opened above him to reveal a certain sexy blue-haired ghost-rocker holding Sam by the arm, "There you are, Dashie. I brought you a present!" Ember said as she tossed the girl into the trash.

Sam gave a disgusted look, "This is your amazing revenge? Throwing me in the trash?"

Ember laughed and shook her head "Nope, that's just a fun bonus." she said with a smirk, "But now that you're both here, I figured I'd play a little song for you.", she grabbed her guitar from off her back and turned one of the dials on it, setting it on the design of a heart, "Hope ya like love ballads."

The rocker chick played a few chords, emitting a pink wave of energy at the two humans. Sam and Dash then looked at each other with what could be seen as a look of sudden realization, "Wow Dash, I never noticed how handsome you are." the goth said

"Yeah, you're pretty hot too, almost as hot as me." the jock flirted in return

Ember rolled her eyes, "God, even a love spell can't make this guy charming." she mumbled, "Well, I'm gonna give you two some privacy. And don't worry too much about protection, I think ol' micro-dick over here is shooting blanks." she said as she slammed the dumpster lid shut.

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny woke up in a daze to find himself sitting in a comfortable chair. He examined his surroundings to see that he was in what looked to be some kind of office, decorated with skulls and other gothic trinkets, in front of him was a desk covered in paperwork, clearly whoever worked here was a very busy man.

The door behind the ghost-boy opened and he turned around to see a dark figure clad in a black cloak, a figure he could swear he'd seen before, "Let's see… ah yes, nice to see you again Mr. Fenton." he said in a deep voice with a subtle English accent

"Do I… know you?" the boy asked

Though his face was shadowed by the cloak, Danny could see a grin on the other being's lips, "Everybody gets to know me at some point or another."

As he got a better look at the figure, the ghost-boy finally figured it out, "You were in the portal with me, back when I first got my powers." he recalled

"Bingo. It's not every day I only get to collect half a soul, second time something like that's ever happened." the dark spirit explained, "I'm sorry, allow me to formally introduce myself. Muerte Sombria, the angel of death. But you can call me Morty."

Danny's eyes widened in shock, "I'm dead?… Again?"

Morty nodded, "Yep, a bullet to the brain will do that. It's all right here in your file, 'Daniel James Fenton, died October eighth, 2004 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head'" he read off, "It goes on to say how you did it to protect the ones closest to you from a girl named Samantha Manson."

Danny sighed "I just didn't want her hurting them."

"You don't need to explain yourself to me." Morty assured, "I'm not here to judge, I just fill out the paperwork."

"So what now? Am I going to Hell for killing myself?" the boy asked

The angel of death laughed, "You kidding? No, you're going back to the Ghost Zone. You're even getting your own realm this time, not that you'll need it, I understand you're quite comfortable with Miss. McLain."

Danny smiled "Yeah, she really is amazing."

"Amazing enough to be the mother of your child."

The boy's eyes widened, "Oh no, she's made it clear that she does not want kids."

Morty gave a confused look, "But… wait, hold on." he said as he examined the paperwork once again, "Do you not have a baby daughter?", Danny shook his head, "That's… odd."

"What is?"

"It says right here under offspring that you and Miss. Amberline McLain have a one-month-old daughter named Danielle"

"No that must be some kind of mistake."

"I see. It also says that you and Miss. Samantha Manson have a one-month-old son named Edgar. Is that also a mistake?"

"That is a HUGE mistake!"

"Well then, looks like someone's made a bit of a fucky wucky. I'll have to look into this. Aside from that, you've pretty much got the whole ghost thing down already so there's really not much for us to go over, you're good to go. Enjoy your afterlife."

Danny got up from his seat and floated toward the door, "Well, uh… thanks, I guess." he said as he exited the room

Morty waved goodbye as the ghost-boy shut the door before turning his attention back to the boy's file, "One way to clear this up." he said to himself as he picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number, waiting for an answer. "Hello, Clockwork?… You're an all-seeing deity, you know damn well who it is… Yes, I called to ask you about the Fenton boy, did the observants make some kind of mistake on his file?… They didn't… I see… Really?… Well, that certainly is interesting… Oh don't you worry old timer, I have no intention of ruining the surprise for the boy."

 **Oh wowee, a scene transition**

Danny entered his and Ember's realm to be greeted by his girlfriend flying straight into him and tackling him to the ground, "YOU FREAKING DIPSHIT! THAT WAS YOUR AMAZING IDEA?!" she shouted

"Are you mad?" the boy asked

The ghost-rocker answered him with a hard slap to the face, "I'M FUCKING PISSED!" she exclaimed before crashing her lips into his with a kiss, backing away to speak "But I'm also really happy you're okay."

"Em, you're kind of sending some mixed signals here." Danny said, earning another slap

"SHUT UP! NOW GET INSIDE, GET YOUR DAMN PANTS OFF, AND GET READY FOR ANGRY SEX!" the girl demanded

"Oh boy, an anger banger." Danny joked, earning yet another slap to the face

"Don't ever call it that again!"

 **A/N: Does the personification of death count as an OC? He was never on the show so… maybe? I don't know.**

 **Anyway, I got a lot of ideas out in this chapter, I gave Danny a sweet new leather jacket, had Ember put a love spell on Sam, revealed a little bit of backstory, and I even introduced a new character! So yeah, busy chapter.**

 **Let me know what you think with a review,** **I never get tired of seeing those. And follow if you haven't already so you don't miss the next exciting chapter, and with what I've got planned, you definitely won't want to miss it.**


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